##VIDEO ID:DZS5c2Qpr64## uh welcome everyone this is the finance committee meeting of December 10th 2024 it is 6:34 I'd like to call the meeting to order with a pledge of allegiance I pledge allegiance aliance The Republic with Liberty justice for all under Mass General Law chapter 30 section 20f this meeting is being recorded this meeting is being held remotely in accordance with the governor of Massachusetts March 12 20120 order suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law GLC 30A section 20 in on March 29th 2023 Governor Hy signed a supplemental 2023 budget Bill allowing remote and hybrid meeting options for the public parties through March 25th 2025 uh welcome everyone um I am going to call out and announce our member finance committee members that are in attendance I see Al Le Cindy Brown Duncan law Gary Carrero Michelle orando Zack Leu and Karen Rouse I do not see Hugh Morton is absent tonight and Christopher Thrasher I do not see on the call either okay so tonight we are going to start what I got Zack yes Z is here I'm here but I apologize I tried like three times and I can't get my camera to work tonight well we appreciate you trying thank you it's always nice that we have our faces on uh whenever we can since um we're seeing guests and in ourselves too so thank you thank you for trying Zach okay all right so tonight we're k taking off our department budget meetings for fiscal 26 and we have four departments we're going to do tonight are the IT department the Council on Aging shellfish and the planning board and we're going to do those uh in that order unless that presents an issue for someone that's here that may need to jump out quickly um I think Keith Novo is here did I see Keith yes I did I am all right Keith you are the first one up for this whole fiscal budget season so welcome all right all right um so so I I assume that you have the um the budget spreadsheet in front of you as well as the uh the memo um dictating the um well stating the terms I should say um try to um you know keep everything as as close as possible as it was to the prior year here um you'll see that overall it was about a 3% increase um from last year um so it went from uh let's see it was about 355,000 to 366,000 this year an increase of of approximately 11,000 um you know over the the prior year so the predominantly um you know for the uh for the the increases you'll see that you know the equipment repair um stayed the same the printer copy of Maintenance stay the same um software licenses so the software maintenance this is our Network switching network servers firewalls sdw all of our operating system um system backups antivirus licenses all of that kind of falls under here and there was some there were some increases associated with you know those various licenses over the the past year so that's the the bulk of the uh increase that you'll see for the operating budget this year um the Professional Services line uh went up uh about $1,400 so um you'll see that in that line U online services went up about $1,000 as well um and then you'll see I in order to stay um within our um our guidance for the budget I did reduce the additional equipment down um to 10,000 in order to like I said to stay within the the boundaries of of what I was given um so overall those are the high level changes associated with the the it budget this year great thank you um Keith just um oh um can you just give us a high level view of the salary and wages so the folks that you have in your department so there is there yourself and there's is there somebody else there is myself at the moment uh we are trying to get a um parttime person I was just speaking with the Town Administrator in the last week and he was going to um I guess bring that before slick board to see if we you know to um to get that um rolling there so to speak uh so we can get a a part-time person to to help with a lot of the uh we have a lot of new changes happening in town um with um you know websites and permitting and and so forth and that's going to require some you know some additional help helping each of the Departments to be able to navigate through those some of those changes so uh we're looking to get a someone to you to assist with that and to assist you know obviously to assist me with you know some of the day-to-day stuff of you know monitoring out me a new keyboard those kind of you know problems issues so right now like like I said it's it's just me so Keith you in in the fiscal 25 budget that the current year that were currently in we it was approved in your budget to hire that position right so it looks like you're looking to fund it again so you haven't you haven't put a person in that position yet even though it was in it's approved in your in the current year budget is that right that is correct and is have you not been able to find anyone or have you not started to look um we I guess there was some other priorities over the last year and it hadn't hadn't happen so over the past year so um I just reached out again like I said I just reached out and request so that we move forward with that so um so we're starting the process now okay and can you remind us I re you know last so I'm looking at your um your budget sheet that you gave us has several years in there and for the department head salary which is you it it went up pretty significantly from the fiscal 23 to the fiscal 24 and then it seemed to dip back down so in so just so uh everyone has the numbers so in fiscal 23 the number was 33637 and then in fiscal 24 it got approved at 74310 and then in fiscal 25 it dipped down to 61,800 ining hours and could you just give us a summary of what's been happening with your your your own salary line yeah it it did go up um the just the general um care of all the systems and everything is required a lot more a lot more of my time than was originally planned from you know from decades ago um and uh it it's just uh it that increase was in line with the the hours being worked to to maintain all of the infrastructure all of the servers which is printers phone systems everything that encompasses what we have for technology in the town the technology is consistently grown year after year and um you know it just takes more time to to do that so it was in it was increased to capture the the additional um time involved in maintaining every everything because you you're part-time and so then you became still part-time but you increased your hours right is that I did incre yes I am part-time and I did increase my hours um in order to do that yes okay thank you um but then why did why did it dip down again we dipped it back down in order to be able to um get the second person a second part-time person so in order to kind of split the difference of you know what the cost what the salary would be for that new person it dipped back down in order to be able to get that other person okay thank you Keith um Al go ahead you've got your hand up excuse me yes I I have just a a quick two-part question Keith one is that has the uh the and it may have been answered a couple of minutes ago have you you haven't found that part-time person yet so you're the only person that is in charge of all of the it so if you decide to take a break yeah go on vacation whatever it might be there's no backup is that is that correct or am I am I projecting they for the most part that is true we do have services in place um we have a help desk service in place uh they monitor and maintain help maintain the um servers which is the infrastructure so they're constantly monitoring they have um you know an operation Center that monitors at 24 hours a day um so if if I were to be out of town or kind of out of commission for whatever reason they would be able to continue to Monitor and maintain and and provide some you know continuity of operations okay over that but no but no but no enhancement no no growth on anything really it's just it's just status quo is that is that what I'm I'm not trying put words in your mouth I'm just trying to understand yeah they would they would maintain the infrastructure that is they wouldn't be able to tell you you know oh you need this new equipment you need this new network you need this new Switch whatever they wouldn't do any of that it's just maintaining the status quo like you said all right and and the other part Karen if you can if you can bear with me the additional equipment of 10 what are we what are we losing um Pardon Me by the additional equipment uh downgrade from 20,000 to 10,000 that would that would directly and and you know impact the services for the for the tax paays of the town or the town in of itself yeah I mean it could be could be anything it could be if we needed um maybe we needed a new server for something um you know some short-term need popped up and we needed a new server or a new printer or you know a new software or something anything along those lines that you know might crop up during the year that that we would need to be able to accommodate we wouldn't be able to do that if we didn't you know have that so so so I'm going to interrupt you and I apologize so what what you're saying is what I'm hearing from a variety of different departments is that and and again I'm projecting but it seems that we are not allocating resources in this town uh in in in the finance for normal operational re repair and maintenance and we are not allocating a reserve Fund in in case the inevitable it's sometimes it sounds almost like bubble gum and Band-Aids um so that's a that's me you don't need you don't need to say a word but I I just uh so so what we're saying about the 10 to or the 20 to $10,000 is that you pull that out of your budget to keep it as Bare Bones as possible and God forbid a server blows up and the next thing you know every body in town is complaining because the server blew up is that and and there's no money for it is that a fair assumption essentially that's correct yes okay thank you I yield Gary you've got your hand up yeah uh hi Keith so um did you have any uh Revenue replacement off Federal money or um any County money from Opera that you used for any kind of Technology upgrades for the town was that was that did you was there anything that was done we um did receive I think we did receive some Opera money um trying to remember that was I don't know if it was this past year or the year before um but we did upgrade we uh we did upgrade some uh I think it was our internet presence we relocated it from one location to another to a more secure area um also I'm in the process of installing um radio repeaters uh for the public safety so police and fire um those are in the works now I'm I'm finishing the the network infrastructure to support that and then we'll be putting these radio repeaters in which will help um um voice quality of all the the radios for police and fire throughout um so we did get some funding to to support that yes so and then the other question I had was um as far as like multiactor authentication have we implemented any of that throughout the town um actually we're in the process we received the Cyber Grant and we're in the process of doing that now so um I'm working with um a vendor right now to install the multiactor we'll get um tokens everyone will get a token so if they're uh connecting into like this for instance their email they'll be able to connect into it anywhere but they'll have to use their token in order to authenticate so we're in the process of doing that that's actually a requirement with um insurance provider for our insurance provider yes so and a lot of times too now uh the rating agencies are are really hot up on um getting these um you know these towns and communities to be compliant uh because of you know what happened in New Bedford a few years ago so on and so forth having Towns at risk so I'm happy to hear that we're we're doing that that's good yeah it's uh along with the Cyber Grant in addition to getting the multia authentication we're also going to do like um a cyber cyber plan cyber assessment so we'll collect all the members from the various departments and we'll look at you know what would happen in the Cyber event if something were to um you know something would occur if a server was compromised um if um you know whatever whatever it may be some um you know we we'll put together this plan and then we'll do a tabletop exercise to to validate that plan too so that's all part of the um the Cyber uh grant that we received okay thanks yeah thanks Gary um Cindy go ahead uh Keith didn't W weren't there funds also allocated to finish up the um fiber optic Loop for the town for Town Offices uh did you use Opera money to finish that project up as well there we received a state Grant um to put another loop in in for the fiber and I think there was a matching requirement and I believe that um some ARA money was used as the matching requirement for that so we're in the process of of putting that through um to to complete that other loop there yes and um it's my understanding um and perhaps it's already in the process that the town also received a grant to um update the town's website are you involved are you involved with that as well some extent um some other people have been kind of more taking the lead on it but uh but I I have been involved with it um going forward so it's not only the website but there's also um permitting uh so we'll be able to do potentially online permitting uh for the various departments as well um that's all cloud-based um so that will be happening there was a grant received for that good good it at least bring us into the 21st century at least maybe not into the third decade of the 21st century but at least at least cross over uh anyway okay we'll get there kicking and screaming right we'll get there kicking and screaming exactly right thank you Keith okay Keith I got one quick question for you um I know over the last few years with our budget being collectively so tight um some of us raised the question about what sort of infrastructure expenses that the town has that the school also has that is there a way to have economies a scale to share Services uh and whether that's you help the school or the school it Department helps the town has have there been any of those conversations that have happened um I know we've talked about it um potentially um in some couple other departments that have shared admin that that that could be a possibility um and I don't know if anybody's investigated that or had conversations yeah I believe the Town Administrator has in investigated that we've talked about that in the past a little bit um you know I can't speak for the school I mean I know they have people there when I talk to them they say they're you know flat out um getting things done so um I don't know what kind of economies to scale um I myself I'm just you know a team of one right now so um it's hard I mean I want to help people as much as possible but uh I I can't spre I don't think I can spread myself anymore than than what I'm doing so right okay appreciate that does anyone else have any questions for um Keith no no well Keith thank you for um anything else you want to add with to us before you uh we let you off the hook no I think I I think I tried to keep everything pretty straightforward here so we won't have any uh anything much to talk about right so great well thanks for coming nice to see you keep on keep on keeping thanks for all you do and uh keep keep keep doing it thank you so much take care thank you all right so our next budget is the Council on Aging and Beverly's here so hi Beverly hi how's everybody we're good thanks for coming thanks for having me um and just to just let me make a note to the minutes at 6:55 Michelle Orlando just left the meeting so we got to put that in the minutes okay thank you go ahead Beverly sorry this this year's budget actually I'm putting in a budget a little bit it's a ous less than what it was last year and the reason for that is I have two Union positions paid for by the town one full-time one part-time that um both people have transferred to another uh Department to the library actually and both of those folks were at the top of their salary range for the union so to hire somebody new they'll start at step one so when I looked at that that actually was um uh $ 6,272 savings for the full-time person and 1120 savings for the part-time person um and with that along with um uh education incentive that got and and Longevity both of those things were reduced so um uh so that was the savings and what I did was um I did the 3% salary increase from the the base of what those two new position would have so I took last year's base and just did 3% to add that in that's how I came up with those numbers um along with mine everybody else is is um Grant privately funded all the other positions um so it's a little bit less than what it was the only thing I did do was I did bump up the van driver um salary line item from 33,900 to 38,000 and the reason being I think I sent you the copy of the transport ation uh totals uh just so you folks could see we're actually doing better with Transportation as far as the income coming in we don't we don't make any money we're always in the red there there I don't think we're ever going to make money on the transportation services judging five or $10 round trip it's just just you know we're not going to do that but we have um gotten uh a little bit closer um I think last year we were $6,000 um between what we what we expended in the revenue that came in and the year before we were 5,000 so we're still working on that um and I think the reason we've gotten a little closer at one point we were 20 some thousand I think apart and the reason I've been working on grants and um a couple years ago I got an um AARP grant for $10,000 for transportation last year I got a $199,000 grant from Bristol Elder services for transportation so I'm still trying to work with that um mcoa which is math cils on a um after the beginning of the year they put out uh um money for something called a Sig Grant which is a service incentive Grant and I think this year I'll probably apply for um some Transportation money again to help out with with the services that we do um earlier we we were talking about the the population um and I'll repeat my numbers there are 16,33 39 residents in Westport as of the 2020 census and of those 5620 some are over 60 and that was as of 2020 there's a 15% number between 55 and 60 so by the time we hit 2025 that 15% plus the 35 36% that we have the town's uh population by 2025 is going to be just over 53% over 60 so we have quite a few uh seniors coming up to uh the the the time where they're looking at Medicare they're looking at retiring they're looking at what kind of services can we get um and I'm also looking at increasing a lot of my volunteers so seniors when they retire a lot of times they want to um volunteer so we're looking at the skill set we might get um but there there also may be a lot of uh needy people um out there one of the things things that um I Outreach is my background and I really try to beef up the Outreach department so I have a full-time Outreach coordinator and two part-time Outreach Specialists um one of the ladies is our um uh snap food stamp uh coordinator and that's a lot of what she does with people to make sure that people aren't aren't having any difficulty with food insecurity and the other two ladies um are something they used to call we used to be certified shine coordinators we're not we're calling them Medicare coordinators now uh we still do the um the tests and the training but we're not going through the state for various reasons but the two girls the two ladies do it and they just finished doing the Medicare open enrollment and I have to tell you they've been saving their n one one of the girls is saving her numbers on a spreadsheet and from October 15 to December 7th um there was a new program out there for Mass Health senior buyin and um they waved the uh uh Financial uh requirements for that program so folks now that qualify for that there's no asset qualification so folks that now qualify now have their Medicare Part B premium paid by that program which saves people $2,220 a year um that amount that Susan Susan had put on her spreadsheet came out to uh $37,000 around around $37,000 that's just for the folks that she met that's not even for the folks that Andrea met because Andrea's full-time Susan's part-time and then she did a n the numbers for the prescription plan on what people could save um and that's another $24,000 that she did so you can take that number and almost triple it because Andrea Works full-time so she works twice as much and has been doing twice as many um uh meetings with people for Medicare and it's really um I think um speaks volumes to what our Outreach Department does and how they reach the people in Westport to help them to make sure that they are um as economically secure as they can be and even for the food food security um so you know shout out to my Outreach department for all the work that they do and they'll still continue uh even during Medicare open after Medicare open enrollment is is closed which was December 7th I believe um people can still apply for the um Mass health um uh senior buying program they can do that at any point um and it's really nice that they I I think they finally the feds finally decided that they really needed to get rid of that asset allocation because if you have $10,000 in a 401k you weren't able to do that well you spend the $10,000 and then Mass health has to pay for everything so I think you know they've made some changes and that's a real you know a real feather in their cap for for doing that and setting that up um so my budget's less than what it was last year Jim didn't change it Jim and I met we didn't change anything I kept the expenses pretty much the same I just adjusted some of the line items because vehicle repairs were doing a little bit more because the vehicles are older um but the salaries and everything are are like I said I I put the van drive line item in there a little bit higher and not knowing whether I would be able to get grants this year uh for transportation um and I also just finished a grant um just the week before um thanks I was G to say Christmas Thanksgiving um the week before Thanksgiving for a new do van um it's uh going to be if if I get the grant the the the van will be delivered in June of 26 so it'll be in in that fisc next fiscal year sometimes they're a little bit later than June of 26 um and I had put in Capital Improvements for 85,000 because I thought that's about how much the van would go up and when I looked at the the um forms and the paperwork it's $117,000 for a new 14 passenger van so that went way up because the last time I got a van it was $69,000 so it's huge amount but the fed the feds now only require us to match 15% not 20% so it's still about a $117,000 um expense for the for the town um and and I got really nice letters of support from the police chief and the fire chief and Senator Michael Rogers about how much we do um more numbers for you um um Cindy um there's 100 60 miles of roadway in Westport because we're Rural and there's only six miles of public transportation on Route Six all the rest is open so we have you know many folks who don't drive anymore um and really need um you know the support we still take people to dialysis we still take people to chemo or radiation um we take people shopping um we we bring people into the center to do the exercise programs and have lunch and do other programs we also pick up people from the of Day program uh to come into that program three days a week so I have sometimes two to three drivers on almost every day and I only have five drivers but some of them will just do part of a day you know to pick up the the medical appointments so we're pretty we're pretty busy we don't we don't stop and and neither do I I can talk up a storm go ahead and ask questions Gary Gary's got his hand up so we'll let Gary ask a question thanks Gary how you doing B um so do we have an um I don't want to ask this I guess does the C unaging handle homelessness um we we have resources that we can refer people to for homelessness and we have worked with the police department the Board of Health um there's a a program for people who who hoard um so we've done a lot of that but we don't P we we don't like go out in search of people normally what happens is people get referred to us so the police department will run into somebody um somebody from I mean quite a few years ago somebody from Nick's Pizza called us and said we got a guy that's trying to stay in our place overnight because he doesn't have a place to go and and it's the winter and he's sleeping in his truck so we reached out to him to see if we couldn't help him we found him a place but what happens with a lot of people who are homeless they stay for about you know maybe two weeks three weeks and then they just can't do it anymore because they don't they they can't manage to be in one spot for whatever reason a lot of those folks have either drug and alcohol issues or mental health issues and it's it's really a a combination of a lot of things um so we do the best we can uh we use travel as Aid we use you know we we we do the the best we can to see where we can um get somebody into a shelter or um into a a hotel because there are some funds that like Bristol Elders might have or other other groups might have that we can access uh to see if we can't keep you know people safe um but a lot of times what happens is um you know we we got somebody one of my Outreach workers worked really really diligently to get somebody who needed help into um an assisted living and got him the room and and got him all set and he lasted for about maybe 30 days um but he was a smoker and he didn't like the rules and it's very different when you're in your own place and you have your own you know your own independence um for somebody to be giving you some rules so we run into those problems do we work with people yes have we had success badic success yeah so we don't so I get the you answered that we don't actively go out and and take a a headcount of people in town no because they're they could be transient they're going from you know Community to community yes um unlike some communities where they've set up you know they've set up and they they're they're there for a while um we don't we don't see that in Westport I guess no I don't think we've seen I don't think we've seen a lot of that a lot of a lot of the folks go to Fall River and New Bedford because it's more you know there's there's City so there's more access to uh things they want um and unfortunately including drugs and alcohol and that's one of the sad things but that does happen um yeah so okay thanks yeah Cindy go ahead um so um be what when um kind of in the same vein as Gary it's a delegate question to ask when do will we have to start thinking about a succession plan for you when can we clone you when will we have to clone you well I you've probably heard through the grapevine I was thinking about my contract is up in June and I was thinking about retiring because next year I'm I'm already 68 I'll be 69 next year and people are like really and they're like you can't you can't do this you write since 2021 I've written over $300,000 in Grants which is what really keeps Us Alive because the town pays 35 36% of my budget and all the rest is done Grant funded um and it's just it's just it's constant constant constant writing grants and looking for Grants um which is fine I'll take 10,000 here 5,000 there we just got a the two days before the Thanksgiving week when I supposed to be on vacation somebody approached me and said they had uh ta ta Rogers Family Foundation and they had some money to give away so they wanted me we wrote I had to write with um my friends group because they needed a 501c3 group to write it so she and I got together we wrote it I wrote 10 10 for transportation 10 for uh social Day program and 8,000 for a brand new refrigerator commercial refrigerat we need we already got the $8,000 they already sent it to us so so you're not so you're not leaving I probably won't leave before I probably do like another year my contract's up in June I'll have to rec contract I don't want to leave the problem is we have because of all the different grants I have four different fiscal years I have January to December July to June Believe It or Not April 1st to March 31st that's just really out of there and then the federal one from October to September I have four different fiscal years so when I write a grant I want to stay until I finish doing everything things so I can write the report and send it in so it's all nice and neat so God forbid somebody comes in to do an audit they don't have to be looking around for Stuff everything's in a packet it's all together and people welcome to Municipal Finance yeah you got that right that once Amazon so so what happens is um when I I keep writing the grants and I get the grants and then the court is up and I have six six reports to write instead of two so it just keeps me busy but um yeah so I don't think I'm I'm out of here for for another year anyway I I'll hit 10 years in March so I have my 10 years so then I'm vested so that's that's where I wanted to hit so I'm GNA make that milestone in March but I I really think it'll be um you know and then I was thinking what am I gonna do you know I mean if I had enough money where I could fly all over the world and and travel that would be great but nobody has that you know you you'll end up Vol you'll end up volunteering yeah at the same center right had the Council on Aging right yeah yeah well I live in I live in Somerset I don't live in Westport I live inet and I in Somerset and the Council on Aging I could walk to from where I live oh okay but I've already had a couple of people um approach me and say whenever you retire we'd like you to be on our board we'd like you you know so thank you be all right well thank you I'm glad we got you for a little while longer Al did you have your hand up I I I did and and the first part be you answered I was looking pardon me to find out the percentage ratio of of of town funding versus Grand funding and it's basically onethird 2third so you're pretty self- sustained I mean obviously you need the the town no doubt about it for the basic infrastructure so so you thank you for answering that one the other question that pops up occasionally and it it's it don't take it a the wrong way or B that it is is floating in The Ether anywhere is everybody that goes to the um Council on Aging from Westport are are and and do you have a percentage and I want to just say and and maybe I'm protecting myself if you will I'm I'm a big fan of the COA been a big supporter for a number of years as as my family so this is not a negative comment I just I just want to dispel any crazy rumors that that that continue to float out uh there so could you could you just give us a a quickie on that one sure um all my Outreach people are Westport people anybody that we do the Outreach services and resources for they're all Westport people um some of the activities that we do like the quilting group and the chef on a Sho string and sometimes when we do the soup and sandwich and the entertainment people come from other communities because some of our people that live in Westport go to Dartmouth or they go to Maran or Fair Haven so or they go to Fall River so they you know we we kind of uh Mel together and kind of network to see um we just started a new support gr group called um stroke buddies and friends and I was thrilled to be able to start that Lisa felberg Costa approached me uh it's her brainchild and um we have done a few little support groups here and there but other coas have done support groups like the um uh the bement The Grieving support group and the Parkinson's one in Dartmouth and I haven't wanted to add another support group to thin out the herd I figured that theyy so we're doing we started um in September we had two people for the first stroke buddies group the second one we had 12 this third one we had 20 some and last Thursday we did a um sort of a kickoff at whites of Westport we had 85 people there and we had the da Tom Quinn and um Senator Mary's representative we had uh Fire Chiefs and police Chiefs and we had three banks that supported that that group um so and we did a whole big presentation on frauds and scams and uh victimization so that people um da Tom Quinn came in and did his presentation because this is the time of year where a lot of seniors get taken advantage of so we're trying to make sure that they're safe um but this support group we may not be able to meet at the COA because it's just growing by Leaps and Bounds because it just isn't another in this whole area um and Lisa is um tied in with uh South Coast Hospital group so her neurologist is going to come and do a presentation um she's got other people other uh professionals that are going to come in and do presentations once a month they're going to meet um so it's real exciting I'm really really thrilled that we're able to do this so but we have people from all over but Ju Just as a very very quick follow would it be fair to say that the outof town residents and the programs that COA provides is not a significant drain to the Westport taxpayers no not not at all not from what you just described I was just I would but I I just wna kind of put that on the record if that's true yeah they bring funds in because they'll come in and pay for like soup and sandwich or they'll pay for their activity that they're doing so because they bring the funds in and and I'm not really making any money on a lot of the activities we're just trying to break even but they're not they're not draining the resources from my Outreach staff or even from my transport Transportation well we tend to just stay we drive to um Dartmouth and B River and New Bedford and do what we can but most of our transport people that use our transportation are from Westport we try to stay within Westport now my supportive day program they have people who live right over the line in Idan it's like right where it goes to River so sometimes we pick people up there but they're right on the line but they're also paying for their transportation so it's not draining it's not a drain on any of by any means on any of the the monies that come in or the taxpayers money perfect you you gave you gave the answer that you should yeah thank you thanks Al does anyone else have any questions for Beverly I don't see any other hands up just check nope and I haven't figured out how to clone myself because let me tell you right now just so you know my principal clerk I've had that 40h hour position open since August and my um um uh Janet a maintenance person I hiir somebody that didn't work out and that's open again so I've been doing like the two jobs plus everything else since then let me tell you if I could clone myself I would do it I could use the help let me tell you so well Beverly thank you for coming in and thank you for everything you do with the Council on Aging um we appreciate everything you do thank you very much you holays everybody thank you you too all right so our next budget is um shellfish and marine services with Christopher Leonard hi Christopher Hi how are you doing good how are you looks like we got our sound working so we're okay yeah yeah we called in with the phone and have video on the screen so yeah we figured it out um but thank you so much for having me um we are here to talk about the uh we can start with the shellfish uh Department's operating budget um the shellfish Department's operating uh budget is submitted under the accordance of the FY 26 municip budget guideline by the Town Administrator a 2.5 budget increase uh non-union employee salaries and wage cost get a 3% increase per year uh the overall FY 26 shellfish budget is 9,631 uh representing an overall increase of $1,728 from the FY shellfish uh Department budget of 25 of 8893 um so basically the bump that we're looking at is just that 3% raise um everything going down all of the line items is pretty much staying the same um and the the shelfish department consists of two full-time employees and six part-time employees um we have some electricity and uh for the office and uh Patrol Skiffs and we have a large co- hog transplant skiff um we can talk a little bit about the plant ski we have um this year we were able to plant $147,000 worth of shellfish into the river um through uh $100,000 Grant from the man Foundation as long as our as well as our yearly um Shell stock uh kind of event that uh raises a probably over this year it was a little bit less we raised over $30,000 um we do have a lot of money um in the shelfish gift fund uh people do give us um inl of flower donations and and yearly donations so uh we were able to plant a lot of cogs a lot of oy uh Bas cops and also Cog seed uh no oysters this year um but it's something that we're looking to do in the future um we share the building with the Harbor Master Department um and we just have a Portage on that's over there so we have a very small office uh with the just little wall bathroom heater so we're very kind of basic it's we were doing tiny houses before they were cool I guess I don't know um the shellfish Department truck um is a Chevy 2500 um that I use uh and we use in the department for falling boats and we also go and pick up um the relay cooh Hogs from Fall River if the coh hws were delivered to Westport um it would cost more so we just try to have a better price um to have the shellfish Department go and pick them up uh bring them to the 88 Vol ramp where we load them onto our 24 foot Carolina Skiff and um go out to the different relay sites in the river uh we're very lucky that we have a texting tree that we have a lot of volunteer help to to plant you know 5,000 bushels of cogs because in essence it's kind of like moving rocks sometimes it's a gym you're going to gym at at work so it's a very labor intensive thing um but pretty much just looking down uh the uh the line items here um pretty much just business as usual um we do have some upcoming uh expenditures that we're looking at uh we just need a couple new Outboards uh one for the uh 24t Carolina skip which would be a 90 horse outboard and we're looking to purchase another 40 horse outboard for the um shelfish patrol boat um Gary Sherman who was the uh shelfish Warden before me uh he would get a new outboard um he say every five years and I think we're going on our eighth year right now so it's definitely time um the money to pay for these Outboards I'm going to put an article couple articles in um and the money to the Outboards are is to be taken from the um Municipal waterways fund um which would be able to to pay for that so wouldn't be coming at a free Casher or anything like that um but you know we're we're doing a uh a good job planting a lot of shellfish in the river putting people to work um we have 81 Acres of aquaculture in the Westport River right now and so we're just trying to put people to work and and and clean the river with uh planting as many shellfish as we can um I don't know if we have any questions about the shelish department that anybody would like to ask or anything like that let's see I see no hands raised okay so you can move right on to the oh go ahead of course it has to be me and and I I I just simply want to say that that whether it is COA or shellfish and and and and and Harbor Master we're we're talking about small amounts of money in the total budget this is my opinion of course for a a large L return for a number of people and you know it it it it it's important for us as a as a community to support this I mean we can we can argue around the edges of you know bigger numbers but if if I I I sat many times at at the warf when I was living there watching the the Harbor Master go in and rescue people I mean literally boats that flipped over in the you know in front of the docks and whatever so these are all the Unseen things that are needed and you know that that are done on a daily basis and they need to be uh equipped with with the uh with the proper amount of of of people and Gear to to be able to do this I mean it it's you don't see it until you see it I guess that that's that's the point and so I just I just want to support uh uh you know the you know Chris and as as well as Beverly and and every and it these are the UN unsung heroes in a way and and it's it's small money we have a $50 million budget Cindy has said this a number of times and Karen you have as well and other people have as well when we're Why argue about $330,000 in total when we're looking at a $50 million budget and we see the direct benefit to the town and the people uh of the town I believe should as well so I just I just want to uh give that shout out thank you thanks Al Cindy go ahead you've got your hand up um I just really wanted to Echo what Al said he kind of sto my thunder a little bit which is no surprise but uh sorry we're we're a tag team right I'm joking with you I'm joking with you I was going to really kind of save this towards the end but I I think that just from these three presentations between um it and Council on Aging and you know Harbor Master shellfish uh marine services you just take those three budgets combined and the amount of money they are total and the impact that it has to the town in totality when you think about the you know the impact of it to every Department that connects the town as well as how it connects the residents of the town the taxpayers of the town to the resources in the town you take the Council on Aging she you know she talked about the numbers as to how many PE more people are aging here in town and the resources that are being drained upon um uh that are being used from that department same thing with Chris I mean he's doing so much with so little and not one of those department heads has complained about the their budget being limited the fact that inflation has wre Havoc with everyone's budget and you go around to any place today all you have to do is spend you know 15 minutes on these market and you'll hear people complain about inflation and the price of this price of that not once have any of these department heads complained about the fact that their budget are coming in at or relative in some cases below or very modestly above where they have been in the past so I mean right Bravo to great a Great kickoff of this budget season I mean none of us wish that that these department heads were placed in these positions that our resources are limited uh they have to live with limited resources but they don't complain and they still get the job done and these are three Stellar departments that have a huge impact in the town it's it was great to start off with these three the department that follows us is equally follows this is equally important in in laying out the planning and allowing certain things to to happen in the town as far as how things are mapped out and and and growth is um is is monitored in the town so it's um it really is a testament to the people that have been willing to serve for so many years and for the little amount of money that they take out of the total amount of budget that of of the total town no belly aching here there were no crybabies here tonight and I think that that's great good for you yes very true um you know and and you know our budgets they're not posted uh on the screen so you know anybody watching this uh meeting won't see the numbers but the they are essentially they are flat budgets and you know even the a two and a half percent raise is in there and in today's world a two and a half percent raise is um not super um but uh they're flat and and I look at these there's nothing discretionary in these budgets there's no line items that I can look at to say gee can you move that $350 of advertising out can you know I mean really what there's nothing to do right there's nothing um there's nothing to um to cut here but um so I I agree with the sentiment so um why don't you continue on with marine services Chris Chris and then we'll go from there yeah sure thing um so it was pretty much the same intro of the um 3% uh nonunion uh this year the marine services budget uh is $ 32,7 uh this is representing an overall increase of $519 over the fy2 budget of $127,500 and that would be um whole liability um for the um rescue boats that we use um out there it used to be uh much cheaper than that and then it bumped up to 10,000 and then kept on going up and then this year I ended up kind of getting the bill split in half and it was uh uh $7,000 in change for for for that insurance um along with the uh 3% raises that's where the $519 um comes from um everybody that is a shelfish warden is C cross deputized as a uh a harbor master or assistant Harbor Master so we still have the two full-time employees and six time uh part-time employees that will straddle both departments um as needed um the marine services department we have a skiff in the water and a rescue boat and my myself and and the crew that works with me we are on call 247 um even right now uh we work with the Westport police the Westport fire um if somebody dials 911 uh we are going to be dispatched and then we're going to go out in the boat any time of day or night and to try to bring people home safely so for a $132,000 budget to be on call 247 in conjunction with pumping out uh all the boats the septic from the boats in the summertime you know 5 6,000 gallons of that um the collecting the Waterway user fees the weekend patrols um there's just a lot of stuff on the table that that we're out there and doing um but we can just go through all the line items are pretty much the same uh whether it's the the electricity for the small uh office um whether it's the the rescue the two rescue Patrol boats um we did Revitalize the old Privateer boat that Richie Earl had for his career um we had uh Jim Perry who was a wonderful fiberglass worker um gave the boat a facelift and uh we were able to put in new 200 horse Yamaha on that um we have a 300 horse Yamaha on our aluminum boat um if you remember we did replace a rescue boat with a newer 26t uh aluminum boat with a quar in aluminum bottom and it's a heck of a work boat um they use these boats up in Alaska um and ultimately Westport is a cold water destination so we want something it's accidentally gets parked on a rock or something like that it's not going to be like a Clorox bottle boat that that we so often see today um but we you know we we have uh keeping our CPR up to date uh maintaining our truck um and just kind of going through the day-to-day office supplies and printing and you know 500 bucks for uniforms um in the long run we're just looking uh probably for a new outboard for our low water rescue boat which is a 17 foot Carolina ski the Carolina Skiffs have done the town a really great service um sometimes you can't get on site with our larger boat and a lot of the calls are in low water inside the river areas and we definitely need that low water boat to get to where we need to go um the town needs constant repairs um I can just let everybody here know today that I was up in the state house uh giving a presentation for the cport grant um the town was awarded $94,000 to do a feedability study on the town doc um the floating docks the finger peers and this is for sea level rise the town dock has gone underwater several times in the past few years from unnamed storms so we are getting our act together uh for the next 20 50 year sea level and working with a environmental engineer to see what we need to do and what needs to be fixed at the Town dock because it is just such an important part of our community and and what makes Westport Westport so yet again we just go out look for the grant and and just keep keep moving forward so um that's pretty much my a presentation if we have any questions or anything like that I'd be happy to answer anything thanks Christopher looks like Al has his hand up yeah just just just a quick Point seeing off on what what what Chris said a few minutes ago one of the group of unsung heroes financially and otherwise in this town are all of the people who have specific talents uh Jimmy for example uh fire department uh there's a number of people police department Highway Department that keep these our stuff running so they're not constantly coming to the finan committee or to the town for additional cost additional repairs and I don't think that they that any of these people get enough credit and we don't give not we as a collective group but towns people how much they mean to us financially to keep the you know the the the balls rolling to to keep you know the balls in the air juggling uh whether it is taking a fire Tru which I know I'm I'm digressing a little bit that that should be a useful life of 20 years and now it's 30 years to take a boat uh that is you know should have been uh you know mothballed five years ago and it's still active so you know these are the things that that that the finance committee I know knows but I also know that the towns people who are watching this show if you will should know that are so many pieces of the puzzle behind the scenes that that don't get the all it is is about well why is this 2% more than last year why is it but what is going on underneath the scenes and so I just want I just want to bring that up as a uh you know as as a reality because it is a reality so thank you thanks Al um Duncan you have your hand up um froze Duncan you're on mute there that's better hey Chris yeah Duncan Duncan law I I boat in the harbor of the W you've probably seen it um y if you are are you doing enough um in your mind are you doing enough patrols um in and out of the harbor and I I just feel like I don't see your boats as much as I used to and I'm just wondering if that's budget related or is that a strategy of some kind uh no it's it's a it's a it's a large river um we have to go and and and Patrol a lot of it um we also have a lot of walk-in people um I wouldn't say that it that it would be budget related no um even though it is for the part-time as needed um for the harbor Department um it's just kind of believe it's about uh $12,500 um but we do have somebody uh on scene um the best we can I mean we try to keep the boat up and around uh you know the boers beach area and the mouth but um sometimes uh you know we we have other things to do but there's always somebody there um to respond is this the SP Rock area or what are we talking about yeah I'm I yeah I keep my boat at spittle Rock and in and out of the river a lot but you know I've been there for 30 years and so I'm just you know it's uh it's uh just my observation that could be dead wrong but and if you if you could Patrol more would you I guess that's my other question well I mean uh the uh the summer and it's just the heat of passion and there's just a lot of a lot of things going on there um you know I I will note that and uh we'll talk to uh the crew and and we'll try to get some more boats out there of course if anybody sees anything um we need it to be reported that day at that time a lot of people say oh yeah I was there last uh Sunday and they wait a week to tell me about something that was going on and it's like well when you see something you need to let us know and not just stew on it because and I'm not suggesting that I I know that you guys come out instantly when when there's a when there's a call but you know I I just seem to remember that there was there was more of a presence of your boats around and you know and you're right at boers Beach and all that is where there's a lot of boats and you know it just uh I I think it just helps the overall safety of the you know the entrance to the river there which is can be tricky you know when there's a presence there that slows people down and and makes them think about what they're doing as opposed to what they might want to do oh absolutely the Harbor Master boat shows up and everybody um you know settles down and as soon as they don't see the boat you know it's uh it's the cat and mouse all the way thanks Chris thank you thank you does anyone have any other questions before we let Christopher uh off the hook tonight nope I don't see any well Christopher thank you again um again we appreciate everything you do and your budget is um small and consistent and flat and we appreciate all you do with the little dollars that you have to do it so yeah no problem thank you thank you so much to everybody have a happy holiday to everybody thank you thank you thank you very much thanks Chris thank you all right so our last budget this evening is the planning board and I believe hi Michael you're back how are you good and Jim whiten is also here uh thanks for your patience here we go so I'll let you um talk about your budget all right so you're going to hear kind of the same story as the previous three departments with our department budget as well so we're proposing flat funding just with the exception of annual salary increases um most of our budget does go into Staffing um $220,000 of which approximately goes into Staffing and then another 37 into operations um we have three full-time employees and we have had a vacancy since September um we did have an offer accepted for the position last month and um her name is Dia wheeler she'll be starting on January 2nd um so we're really excited to have her come join us because we have a lot of different things going on um but before I go over some of the the different projects that were working on or just giving a quick overview of those um for our operations most of our um most of that budget comes in the form of Professional Services and um typically that's that's used for the town's Municipal storm SE our permit which is a federal obligation um we have to since we don't have a town engineer we have to get a consultant to um help us complete that report and so typically we work with kleinfelder engineering um and then the rest of that goes into grant match I'll note that um due to uh grants that I had secured last year all of our Professional Services budget was spoken for like as soon as the fiscal year turned around um so last year we received $476,500 Replacements another ones for long range land use planning in the North End of Westport um another one's for Beach management planning so at East Beach Atlantic Avenue and Beach Avenue there's a small grant for climate resilience projects and um lastly we're working on designing westport's first shared use Trail so a bike path and pedestrian path that's completely separated from from the roadway um I also have this have um put in a requests to have this project placed on the State Transportation Improvement program um and Mast doot and and sered have accepted that so that'll be working its way through this the state tip um so I mean we do we do a lot with the small budget that we have um but I I like to think that we're pretty effective at at administering these different um Grant programs and seeing where we can really maximize the limited amount of um Grant match that we do have available um and then on the uh kind of the more day-to-day operations we have about probably 35 to 40 proposals a year um so that would be site plan subdivision solar applications all those kinds of things um and those can be fairly time consuming um because you have to coordinate between I mean just doing project management so you're coordinating between various different entities to get different pieces of information from them um the Consulting engineer um who we we you know because we don't have a town engineer we have to use a Consulting engineer who the applicants pay for then we have to work with the applicants engineer and then communicate that information to the the planning board and um it gets pretty timec consuming so we're really excited for for Dia to come join us and January just because um uh we're me and nen are kind of treading water in our little two-person Department right now um if if there are any specific questions about the line items I take those questions but I what I what I did this year um again since it's flat funding I just kind of tinkered with things um to based on um how the operations budget was implemented last year thanks Michael does anyone have any questions about the budget before he continues on I don't see any hands so I think you got an all clear to keep on going thank you uh well are there any specific items you would like me to go over in the the budget um I guess I I'll note that with the on the Staffing side this is just regular salary increases um and you'll notice that nen's bumped up a bit um because it was I think it's her 15-year um annual increase but otherwise we had to make some small adjustments in advertising as I said we've received quite a few grants um in the last year and so we have to we have to put post all of the rfps in the paper which definitely eats up some of our um budget to post that in the paper because it's it's quite a bit of information you have to put in the legal section um yeah otherwise I don't think there really any any major changes no I think you know say same story um you're the fourth budget tonight same same story very very flat budget um for a lot of work that your department does and um maintaining a level budgets is incredible um so uh again the same two three% raises in there everything else is essentially flat so um another you know same story to to to you that we've said to the last three budgets um exactly the same but um go ahead Cindy um I was hoping that maybe you could give us a little bit of of a preview perhaps of um um what's coming up on your agenda for the year you know so you had some zoning issues that you that were that the planning board put before town meeting last year that were with drawn do you have are those going to be uh put up again uh do you have new zoning issues that are going to be addressed I think that you know sometimes your your public hearings get lost between the crack certainly for me and I have to and I've become a little bit better about checking your agenda to see what types of things you're working on but can you give us a preview perhaps maybe um Jim you could fill us in a little bit too what's going on sure we have we have two uh major uh articles for town meeting in the works one is a a redo of the uh uh short-term rentals so that we've worked with a short-term rental committee with a planning board uh and we now have the wording it's been sent over to the select board uh and it's really uh regulation uh light it is uh basically there's no talk about the number of days which I think is what killed the uh the bill last year uh and uh it is a self-certifying uh application process that we're suggesting that would be administered by the select board like they do with the uh liquor permits and trailer permits and stuff like that where you just self-certify that you comply with all the state laws regarding uh rooms for hire and uh I I think the way it is uh it could be tweaked after a public hearing uh but I I think it's pretty pretty done I I think it will pass the way it is the second one is a redo of our uh accessory dwelling unit um uh bylaw per the change in the state statute the state statute uh allows all these things by right but we can't do it by special permit anymore so we have to change our our bylaw and I think that's it although we still have time to come up with something else but I I think that we're so busy doing things I just don't see anything more um the other thing that Michael didn't uh discuss is he's he's working with a grant to um have electronic applications across the town so that you could go and get um a building permit by entering it electronically from your own computer uh and have the the information Shar AED from Department to Department uh it's something that I've been wanting to do for 18 years and I think finally U we have the ability to do it one of our departments uh is still using a typewriter uh so I think this will be a big help um so beyond that uh I think it's incredible what Michael has been able to get for Grants it's almost double what our budget is what he's gotten for the town so and hopefully there'll be bigger things in the future just a follow up to that Jim um the the long range land use planning Grant in the North End of Westport is to um it it comes from a place of um after the the sewer failed trying to reorient land use planning in the North End and west so we know Westport is an aging community and it's also um the North End of Westport is is is um seeing a a transition in um the home values are starting to increase and this has historically been um a more affordable area of town and so the point of the the land use plan planning is to um engage the North End of Westport to develop a vision for what folks would like that end of the town to look like in the next 10 years or so so and that'll probably come with zoning recommendations but that won't be for town meeting 26 or uh wouldn't be until town meeting 2026 if there are any zoning recommendations so and the other thing that um that we've been working on will be uh I guess we just sent out the RFP um is for the beach management plans for East Beach Atlantic Avenue and Beach Avenue and these are intended to try to look in the look to the future with sea level rise in more erosion what we should be doing with those things and it's it's a pretty decent Siz Grant I think uh we have two different grants that we're using for the same thing I think it's like $223,000 or more Yep so I think this will be a big help in in trying to figure out what what to do I mean in the past year we had a lot of erosion on on all three of these beaches in in uh damage to the roadway and uh it was costly to the town subsequently uh the the group that owns the Atlantic Avenue beach has uh used the beach management plan to to fortify the dunes uh to prevent some overwash if we get a you know more unnamed storms but I don't know if it's going to hold for a hurricane uh and so hopefully with with that happening we will have the ability to get more grants to implement some of these these uh suggestions on how we how we handle it so and we have a MVP grant that we're working on now 2.0 which uh we're using some money from MVP for this beach management plan the rest is coming from CCM I think that uh the MVP will allow us to get uh in line for more MVP grants so uh it would help us uh to come up with a plan for say emergency exits if there's a big storm coming like in Rod Island they have signs this is the way to get out of here and we don't have that uh here and we we have a lot of roads that will be uh in in the in the bullseye of sea level rise like River Road and the head of Westport and places like that and hopefully uh we have on our our future is to try to help uh Foster the electrical company to change our grid down near the point so that it will not uh the electricity that that Services cherry and web Beach and trips and back edti and all that won't be solely coming across East Beach which is very vulnerable to to big storms so I I think that would be one of the things that we'd be looking for in the future thanks Jim um Al you've got your hand up I I do and and it it's it it includes the planning board but is not exclusive to the planning board one of the problems that I have with budgeting uh issues planning board uh three that come up pop up uh planning board historical commission and there's one other which I I will remember in about five minutes I mean I'm over 70 so you know you know give give me some slack is we don't budget in the department for the legal cost associated with challenges to planning board issues historic uh commission issues whatever it just gets dumped into this bucket of of legal expenses and you know there are many different uh legal challenges and maybe the time the town wins maybe the town loses but it maybe it's Municipal uh uh you know accounting which is convoluted to me but that's that's another story for another day we don't there there's nothing in here that says if you if you have a planning board challenge I don't know what it is I have no idea Jim or or or Michael I'm just making this up or or a historical commission down at the point historic district we win we lose but we pay and there's no you know there's no accounting on the other side of that particular decision in that particular Department that allows us to uh to move forward so uh can can you address that at all or or give give me your thoughts or or I I I can to some extent I've been on the planning board a long time um we have not had uh until this year we haven't had uh legal problems that the Town had to pay for we have had uh decisions uh appealed uh they're appealed all the time by a Butters usually or other interested parties uh and we pay a lawyer a pittance just to keep track of what's going on but we don't participate in the legal defense of the planning board decision uh recently we had a decision uh the planning board denied a subdivision uh and it was appealed uh and it's still uh going back and forth in court and beyond that I can't I can't discuss it because it's still in court but uh to me that's the first one that's really going to cost the town uh legal fees and I don't know how else to to put it if you if you if you try to say okay well it should be in our professional fees line item in the in our budget uh more than likely we just have to give up and I don't know that that's in the best interest of the town and with regard to Municipal budgeting and how they deal with these kinds of uh line items I have no clue I mean it's not anything that yeah nor do I I I I just like an audit Trail and it's it's not to pin the tail on the donkey and you know to to say the planning board did this or X you know some somebody else did did y but I I I I I'm clueless as to why we don't have a especially in in you know budgets that impact the town and are are you know very much open to potential you know suit of of some kind of liability that we don't have this in our uh in our in our budget it just gets dumped into um you know it it it it's not dissimilar to uh the school department who you know the the all onethird of I say onethird is pretty close to one-third of the amount of money that they uh pay for uh you know health retirement so on and so forth is is in the general budget it doesn't get accounted for in their budget and so really 2third or yeah basically two-thirds of the school budget is is is is get sucked out but we only look at about 51 or 52% because it gets thrown in this I just I I'm just saying that wouldn't it be nice if the government the town government and the state lived in a perfect world where if you incur an expense you pay for an expense not Shuffle it off to somebody else I'm not saying you I'm saying one all right I'm I'm not pinning pinning you down at all I'm I'm just being philosophical for a bit and and so whether it is you know your department uh your planning board or some of the others that are open to uh legal litigation of some kind maybe have a line maybe have a line item you know that's all yeah I I don't know how you account for that and in sitting through 20 Town meetings or so uh I've seen uh uh you know legal fees from two or three years ago get in the budget and I don't I don't understand that how that all works it's sort of like the snow budget you can you can put a small amount in for snow budget but you can go over um I don't know I I think what you're asking for is a is what I would suggest um would be somehow accounted for yeah I I agree I'm on the finance committee of Serpent and the state group that is uh dealing with the retirement funds is always after the uh the uh the area planning um people and saying well your $3 million and if serit had to come up with3 million doar to pay it they'd be out of business yeah and so they're a quasi governmental unit created by the like legislature but they're not a government entity and uh there's always wrangling back and forth I don't understand it and I assume that the this the towns retirement budget is the same it's it's in deficit all the time but it never is reconciled I don't understand that either maybe Karen you could explain that but I I totally another discuss even what you're discussing is way over my head at the moment so I think we I think we've maxed out on a planning board budget but yeah I yes I just I I I just I just believe that the planning board is Rip for uh litigation at different points in time for different reasons nothing in particular and I would just suggest that maybe whether it's this year or in the future we Wei you um throw a number against it to to to uh you know compensate the Town Fund the town whatever it might be as part of it that that's all that is well Al that is accounted for in the select board's budget I mean so those suits are brought against the town I mean the planning board may be named but the suits are brought against the town and it's the select board budget that takes care of those items I'm sure that they would be happy to give you a breakdown of the legal costs and and as to whose department they were representing but those legal fees are attached to the Town not necessarily to the department because the suits are against the town oh oh you know I I will agree with you 100% And and good for you for saying that and it would be good if the if if the select board uh became transparent and to say of of the total legal fees you know what is you know who's paying for what and and and when yeah most of it that's not our that's not most of it is retainer money and and I'm sure the Town Administrator can speak to that when they go over their budget but a lot of it is just retainer you know unless they're going to court then that's when you start you know racking up the the big this has nothing to do with the planning board so we'll move on no no yeah good yeah good point okay well and also of recent years uh it used to be the case that the chair of the planning board was free to call up Town Council uh now um I think every department is the same you have to get it okay by the Town Administrator to do it and I think that's that makes sense because they need to keep track of what's going on so right okay enough enough done okay if you have if you have a second there's a couple of things that having been around here this long I I think uh or uh something that I think should be looked at one is several years ago maybe five or six or seven years ago the the town started putting a light item for uh local match for Grants not in our budget but in the town's budget and I don't know if that's still in there or not but it would be helpful to anybody any Department that's looking for Grants to have some some way to fund the local match because it it comes up most good point I think you might want to talk to um the Town Administrator I my recollection was that there was an article that had monies put to that for a match um for that exact reason so s has her hand has a hand up yeah Susan you can go ahead sorry I was on mute oh we go um that is an article and I believe Jim is looking to increase the amount that we keep in there or put to there because there are more and more departments looking for Grants and often we need more matching funds right okay thank you thanks Susan and and the other thing that has has uh Disturbed me for years now is that the highway department seems to get short shrift every year on their budget and we don't enough help there um we really need to have a little bit more of a robust uh departmentment there especially for one reason that I almost was killed by a dead tree falling and these are dead trees that are along the town right away and nobody's paying attention to these things because they don't have any Manpower and it's it's just going to wait until somebody gets killed but it you know you see you drive around especially down here either the electric company the telephone company or the town cut all these trees off at about 30 or 40 ft up because they were dying or dead and they've left these 30 or 40 foot trunks up there and they're they're falling and they're rotting uh and they're big I mean you can't you can't move them yourself if they fall and this is what total my car on on not Wendy day and that's not the only reason that the highway department needs more help but they don't have enough help to do what they're supposed to do and they don't have a good spokesman to stick up for it but they really need it they do you know in in um in I don't want to say in defense because it's certainly not is in defense they have had their positions funded and it seems to be a salary issue they have had two positions that have gone vacant that have been funded I think this year's budget I may be wrong I think one of those positions now has been eliminated and it's a collective bargaining issue well let's let's not talk about the highway department yeah that's right because it's not part of our agenda sorry we cannot not part of our agenda tonight um I I bring it up every year um Jim that I feel that they're severely underfunded but yet we we can't talk about that right okay not on the agenda all right any other questions before we let you both uh enjoy your evening all right well thank you both for your patience and um thank you so much okay we'll see you again soon all right thank you thank you all right so that is our four budgets for tonight that is our first item on the agenda okay um our next item on the agenda was is to um we had talked about the finance committee requesting a joint meeting with the select board and the school committee to discuss um various items particularly um the budget but we put a item on our agenda to discuss what we would like to have proposed topics for fores said meeting that we will request uh so does anybody have uh some topics that we want to talk about certainly the fiscal 26 budget remains High On That agenda well I think you you mentioned one of them uh earlier Karen I believe it was you that mentioned you know economies of scale are there any areas where the town and the school can um mutually benefit from um each each other's um uh resources um off the top of my head I'm not saying that there are uh but perhaps that that's a topic that could be um explored uh a little bit more uh I know that um one example is one area is the area of HR for for example which be uh you know the the town side does not have a dedicated HR person uh I believe the school side does are there areas that the town could benefit I don't know I'm not saying there are but perhaps that there that's one item that could be uh potentially um discussed great thank you I think the the if if we the agenda item would be the fiscal 26 budget as a whole then we can certainly talk about any any specific question on on a on that um I'd love to get an update from the select board um as well really getting our our fiveyear operating plan so you know last year A Five-Year Plan was done well was actually a four-year plan so one was the current year budget in four years looking out so now we're another year into it so what I've always done in my career is that's a rolling thing so you always keep it up to date you don't do a budget and then five years later go oh we've got to do it all over again so you kind of keep it rolling um and so um you know I'd like to understand if if that's in the process and because that's really some of the things that need to be discussed um as we look at this year's budget and looking five years out where where we're really heading um so I would propose The Five-Year operating plan again and if you'll recall we we blew that plan last year yeah we already exactly um the plan set in motion didn't even survive the budget year right go ahead Z yeah Zach has his hand up yeah I'm just thinking back to last year and a couple of the other conversations and isn't one of the challenges with the school budget when it comes to forecasting um understanding what's going to be mandated by them um or for them as it come relates to special needs or Transportation yeah I mean I I don't we're not talking about the school budget specifically tonight but I think any any budget trying to forecast out five years has great difficulty and so even even the budget as a whole what is state aid going to be for um state revenue going to be for four years from now you know you're you're making some some estimates based on historical Trends and to and and you would you know the concept is you continue then unless you know something different um so there's certain assumptions that you're making in A Five-Year Plan um certainly the school is going to have an absolute tremendous set of a of specific difficulty for their budget um in particular but there's also on the same side um other other issues with other department budgets as well and the revenue so it's it's meant to be um just a look ahead you're it's not an etched in stone kind of thing it's just meant to where are we where are we trending and I think we know where we're trending um so it's it's really understanding that on paper and trying to start to make accommodations for it okay and yes and you're right and part of that conversation is the part of the school should be discussing what what their Five-Year Plan is and what their challenges and their issues and and what they have and that that Five-Year Plan should feed into the town administrator's budget as well and I just say that because I feel like for some of the you know the budgets that are more challenging to forecast like that to kind of set aside some type of a contingency to separate what you know you you do know has to be in the budget and then what's out of your control to try to understand that um and maybe be conservative so to help with you know that future projection yeah um go ahead Gary uh yeah Karen has the um I don't know maybe cendy not too but has the capital request started coming in yet for departments for cipc yeah Al Al is a new representative for finance committee representative and yes they have they have had meetings and those meetings are online yeah and and and Gary very very quickly we we had a I'm new to the group and we had an early meeting and they haven't come in just yet but they're coming in rapidly and soon so you we're going to have a fairly you know robust if you will uh you know discussion at the next meeting yeah because I saw the last meeting and I guess free cash has been certified it was um they said quicker than ever it look like it's a pretty substantial amount three three million plus yeah so I don't get I don't get that but what what we'll see you know yeah I mean obviously not a probably all going to be use for Capital hopefully it's only one time purchases that we use the free cash flow but you know last year at town meeting we used uh $600,000 of of non- reoccurring Revenue to balance the budget so I know Tim uh Jim spoke out a little bit on that at the last meeting but uh the fiveyear plan Karen uh I remember when Tim was here he did a plan I don't know if it was was it a 10 year or a five I thought it was it might have been just a five year that Tim did Jim hartnet last year did a five-year operating plan and a five-year Capital plan last year oh you did do a fiveyear capital plan okay so we're gonna get the same that we're gonna get that same information from I think we should request that to be contined to be updated and rolled forward so um yeah and I don't know if it has or hasn't been or if Jim's presenting that soon um to the select board but um I think I'd like to see that that update um and and as you just mentioned Gary another item I think is is really a free cash policy so last year Jim um made a proposal of a way that to kind of get a little consistent with free cash and um nothing the policy or guidelines were never voted on but um he's got some proposed guidance again where a certain amount of free cash would could be used in the operating budget a certain amount would go into a stabilization account a certain amount could be used for Capital um so he so we should really revisit that and um and determine if if if we want to kind of write that into kind of policy and kind of hold ourselves a little bit don't we have our own Financial policies uh the finance committee no I thought we did if we did show me where it is I thought we I thought we did at one time it might be old I mean but I think that maybe should be part of the financial the finance committee's policy also maybe we maybe we amend or or dend them the uh policy that we have in place uh to make that a point that finance committee stands behind x amount of dollars if any being used for the budget free cash because if I remember last year the budget for the schools was a declining commitment what what did that ever get vot I thought that they voted on that the select board voted on that and I don't really know where that went from there well you know and it Jim the Town Administrator presented that Five-Year Plan and within the fiveyear plan at the time the budget was supplemented um 500,000 for free cash for the school and the proposal of that fiveyear plan was to we use down the free cash to go from 500,000 and decrease it by 100,000 each year so this way at some point the school would be able to stand on its own without the one-time relying on onetime funds every year and so that was the plan in that was The Proposal in the plan uh as just as Cindy mentioned that it the whole plan got shot right at the beginning it so so instead of it being instead of last year's budget going from 500,000 in free cash to the plan of 400,000 in free cash the free cash went up to I think 650 so um that's what Cindy alluded to that we we shot the plan before we even got it off the ground yeah I'm gonna search to see if I can find um Financial policies I thought we had voted on them this is when Buzzy was was chair so it goes back a while uh and then I'll I'll send it to you if I can find it the the select board also has Financial policies um which I think I Nicole helped me dig out I think I had them last year and I can recirculate those but the select board voted on financial policies as well and so um it may be time to really you know I think I circulated those last year we had I've got them in front of me um we did you you sent those well this is 2018 right I think overall overall Financial policies that talks about uh you know the proposed balance budget budgetary proposal procedures free cash so we do have something right unfortunately town meeting takes its you know makes its own mind up too I mean you know regardless of how we propose you know the allocation of such even last year those numbers were changed at town meeting you know by vote of by vote of the members present so regardless of what we may think is the right policy it's seems to get changed so yeah I I agree to a certain point on that Cindy but I think I think that over let's say five years let's say we look at a 5year trend and we we stick to the financial policies of the town the town the financial policies the town's adopted we go to town meeting every single one of those years and say these are obviously they can be any policy can be amended it's not this is not law but if we're consistent in saying that no the town does not use onetime revenues for operating expenses then I think we have more teeth in well if we're going to to meeting every year you're right willy-nilly and to meeting is doing this and that there's really no substance to um the to enforcing a policy you know right I I I agree and support that Gary I think you know Finance committee's responsibility as well as the suck board is this is what the Committees feel is the most fiscal responsible I adopt the policy in the first place right right that's the policy and that's the guidance that's presented to the voters at town meeting that it's their will to change it but um it's our responsibility to to um make recommendations to what what the town believes is fiscally responsible yep I agree Al go ahead no I I I I simply wanted to say that I agree with what everybody has said with the exception of the the the bogy which is the state legisl and to a certain extent the feds with you know Visa the the school committee who all of a sudden there's a there's a new mandate it's either underfunded or or you know unfunded and of course they're coming back with they meaning the school committee with with with needed money and it it's it's you know it's a moving Target but we do need to you know put kind of a Line in the Sand I'm not saying a red line Line in the Sand but a Line in the Sand and then figure out how to uh you know how how to fund the rest of this or figure out how to you know do it uh do what we can with with what what gets thrown against the wall with us and that becomes more and more and more of a challenge right so our conversation tonight isn't to really have not about this commit it's to it's it's to what agenda items do we want to put on the list for a proposed meeting so then we can discuss that with the select board so I've got the fiscal 26 budget a five-year operating plan a fiveyear capital plan free cash policy or guidelines other other topics that we want to put on the agenda so we can uh then talk with the uh select board and school committee that yes I'm just trying to understand that line item on the agenda because it says discuss finance committee to request a joint meeting with the select board and school committee discussion of proposed topics for the agenda so I'm just confused how we can't talk about the school agenda if it's going to be a topic of the meeting because I just want to make sure I'm understanding that the purpose of that um you know combination meeting there right sure so what we talked about was we we want to have a meeting with the select board and the school committee right and so the what we said was well what do we want what does do we want that meeting to consist of right so what are our topics that we're going to propose for that agenda and so that's what we're talking about tonight so we're not actually talking about the topics as a as a discussion but we're talking what do we want to have it as a discussion item at that meeting that we're going to schedule so we're not talking about the school budget we're not talking about free cash we're we're we're we're trying to come up with what agenda items are to talk about at a future meeting because we didn't post on our agenda that we would be talking extensively about pre cash and of those things so we shouldn't we can't be talking about the specifics of those sort of things because that's not posted on our agenda okay and and I understand I just wanted to make sure I'm not going to bring up something and then feel like I'm limited to what I say no you can you can raise a topic and then you can discuss why we want to discuss it and then we can determine if we want to but it's not a full discussion to talk about any topic we choose to talk about right and and that's what I mean like yeah an agenda item is thank you for clarifying that so is somewhat bulleted but you've got to explain the reason why you want to bring up that agenda item exactly I just didn't know how too far to go yes so if you have something else feel free to um raise that yeah that's kind of the question I had this is not really open open-ended have kind of some kind of H guidance I guess um what were the topics we have already Cameron so uh the fiscal 26 budget um the five five year operating plan the fiveyear capital plan and free cash policy or guidelines okay and this is all leading into the conversation with the schools and the select board yes yeah and is it okay sorry Gary I didn't mean to cut you off there oh no no no I just I just think that if we don't stay objective it's very easy for the limited time we have together to to just get lost right so to come up with an objective discussion it takes a little bit of narrowing down like what is the question what is the quantifiable piece um I think I brought up the contingency earlier because I definitely remember at the meeting The Joint meeting last year with the select board you know we were kind of discussing what's work case scenario we have x a lot x amount of free cash allotted and that was kind of the plan we discussed and what's the worst case scenario if that you know if whatever circumstance doesn't allot that to be enough which was the case and then it seemed like it kind of um we were caught a little bit by surprise with you know the the way that it all turned out um so I guess like to me one of the ideas is if we can separate the things that we can't control and keep the things we can't control in in in each buz budget then we can kind of say okay like we almost need to separate that in order to be able to say what's what happens worst case scenario and kind of come up with plan A B and C so I think we're more synchronized with the select board and the in the school committee um and like one of the options when it came to worst case scenario last year we discussed was uh um a position cut you know none of us want to see that but is that even possible am I rambling or is that sense it it it does make sense and I think it falls within the fiscal 26 budget agenda so by the time we have this meeting um hopefully sometime mid January if we can schedule it the there should be some some numbers coming from the state so there should be some indication of of what are balance challenges would be um and then we should be looking at okay well what you know what are what are the scenarios what you know what do we do what what what's option one what's option two what's option three so you're you're right in line I but I think if does fall within the fiscal 26 budget agenda item okay yeah the MMA conference is third week in in January and the governor usually announces what her idea would be for the for the budget so that that'll be a good sense of what what's going to filter down to the uh cities and towns but I think Karen a lot too is when we go into these joint meetings with the select board my feeling is we give a lot of guidance to them like we give a lot of guidance to the select board on the finances as we should but you know we should also be getting guidance from them as the as the policy makers of the town you know I I feel that we give them really good information but at the same time are they willing to go out there and now you like at the last minute change things around or not support the budget at town meeting that's been proposed by the finance committee and I think that's happened a lot more so than ever um so I think the question to them at the at the at the at these meeting at this meeting would be we're prop this is what our proposals are now how do you want to how do you select what Invision this taking place or are you going to just I don't want to say pull the rug from under us and say oh by by the way town meeting we're going to go and support a $600,000 hit in free cash and I think that I mean that's the question I would ask like we talked before this can only we can only support this for so long and you know last year I was against doing this whole downgrade of the of the free cash to them because in year whatever for um are we expecting that inflation is not going to be there anymore I mean it it just to me didn't make sense but so does anyone have an additional genda item other than what we talked about to add on here I mean this these are pretty robust so they pretty well I think cover most things financially we can certainly um get an update on any articles Warren articles if if we want to uh add that yeah it's too early for the draft warrant right right tooly by the end January by the time we have this meeting there there should be um some of that anything else Dan I think that's that's a lot yeah okay well we we certainly um I'll reach out to to um the school committee and the um select board with our topics we certainly don't have to post it the meeting until you know a few days before we hold it so we have plenty of time to modify uh if we have additional items that come up so this is kind of just a starting point for what we you know what we're looking to initially discuss so we're not going to go post the agenda tomorrow so we've got time okay um moving on the third item on our our agenda was discussion if there's any committee or Lon updates to provide does anybody have anything of Interest I guess I just have something from the long-term building committee um we met uh a couple of weeks go couple may I guess maybe two weeks ago I don't think it was last week um to recommend uh a firm that's going to be appointed hopefully at the next select board meeting that is going to do a townwide survey of um the buildings the um buildings that are in use by the town uh the uh space allocations that are are being used uh in those various buildings this is limited this does not include the currently active school buildings But it includes the um former High School the town hall the Council on Aging uh Council on Aging building the town Annex uh and I believe the um Highway shed which is included in the town hall uh uh property uh to look at you know what what's going on with the maintenance of those buildings as far as what kind of costs are going to be Associated going forward with those buildings are they you know past their Prime which in many cases they they are uh but an in independent Authority the this is a firm that does this as a matter of course this is really what what they uh what they do it they advise uh various municipalities on this very type of um of process uh of of going through and assessing buildings and determining uh the code issues that we're facing uh in any event uh of what need what would have to be addressed in any of any of the buildings that we have uh if there's any kind of change of use of them so uh an RFP was put out a couple of months ago there were two replies uh that came back um both of them similarly priced um the two firms were both uh quite uh quite competent uh the board did recommend uh one firm over over the other and but it's up to the select board to determine that and that should be at the next meeting so hopefully we'll be going forward I do not believe there will be any action taken at this coming town meeting uh in the spring regarding that um their report would have probably just been completed by then with very little time to address um what it really means uh to digest it anyway so we'll we'll see what happens but that's what's going on on uh in the long-term building committee thanks Cindy I have a question on that so why why would the proposal exclude looking at the school buildings because well um because that's that's a an important element to our overall dollars the overall needs of the town the potential costs that the town would need to incur for other buildings as well and in particular if you know if you're looking at an old high school that used to be a school that there's been discussion should it be a school again should it be this should it be that why wouldn't you also look at the schools to determine are they maxing out so then might the school need the old school as a school I mean other issues involved with that versus there are other issues involved with that versus assessing you know a town you know a a town Department use is not going to grow exponentially I mean so there you're talking demographics and there you're talking a different Dynamic of potential growth and the $100,000 or so that was out allocated to this would certainly not go far enough to include a 10-year plan as to what the school growth potentially could be I mean we're not talking about whether or not we need to build a new school and it's never been on the table whether or not that existing high school was ever going to really be used for educational purposes again it wasn't fit to be used for educational purposes when they left and I don't think it's ever been addressed that let's save it to use it people have brought it up but it's never been an actual option that well maybe we'll want to use it as a school again maybe for some school functions but never as a school that's never been one of the options that so I guess my question it's still 166,000 square feet you would never use it exclusively as a school right guess so question number I guess to me it feels like that's an important piece of the overall Financial questions because if you take the old high school and then it gets repurposed for whatever reason for Town Offices or whatever or it gets demolished or whatever the decision gets made and then that gets done there's a cost to that no matter what happens and then now the school says oh well we need more capacity right we now the town spent money maybe to turn the town off the school into town offices and spend whatever 30 50 who knows how much money and then now the school says oh well we have needs too so let's talk about those meanwhile money's already so to me it to me it's a a piece of the whole puzzle that I don't know how you exclude well I mean you know we we could we could go around in circles with this for a long time as far as what kind of time frame are we talking about I mean we've got buildings that are currently crumbling and um you know are we talking about a fiveyear 10year plan for additional capacity at the schools put it this way you know there have been members of the long-term building committee that have raised that issue and have asked school officials John Perry your public meeting John Perry has requested from the schools whether or not they specifically had any future desire to use that as a school facility as an educational facility and that that was a reply was never received that there was ever any any indication that for educational purposes X number of square feet or X number of classrooms perhaps in the future five years 10 years three years down the road the the school is currently being used for educational purposes for a um after school program and for some other uh recreational um purposes to my knowledge not for educational purposes um so that's kind of a separate issue the scope and the amount of money that was allocated may or may not include that I'm not saying that this group won't interview the school and factor that in but it was not part of the RFP okay it was to assess those buildings but not including the school buildings and I don't disagree with you uh but that was a that's more of a master plan almost type uh umbrella than it was for whether or not we had to include the schools into the equation they have been publicly asked for that information and they've never indicated that they wanted that to be um addressed specifically okay all right well thanks for the update I'm just a messenger I know I know all right thank you any other updates on any Committees of importance no I did okay oh go ahead Z I did meet with the energy committee um and we haven't met a whole lot um over the last year and and our next meeting is late February and I'm just wondering if it's if it's a better to give us an update after we get some findings back um yeah sure for the for the late February meeting so it's like I did have a meeting but I'm just you know I'm thinking whether it's worth doing the update now or not maybe I'll just do a do a high level on it it's just um we were awarded the Green community Grant um for the electrification of the Town Hall um this has been going on for like a year does that sound familiar does that ring a bell a little bit I think I've heard about it yep yep and I think that was under chapter 25A went out to bid the RFQ was going on for over a year um we have chosen uh an engineering firm um b2q Associates and basically my understanding is it's to upgrade um in a in a large portion the HVAC in the town hall um they would be required to drill through the floor I guess some of the tile there so a contract really hasn't been signed yet and it's been a long ongoing process it's not until we get the testing back that we understand kind of the gravity um of what we have there and that's why I was just saying wait till late February to give the the ultimate update sure thing well congratulations on the award for the grant so that's terrific yeah absolutely yeah I think the project cost is around 300K do you see it being an AR at town meeting in in May I'm not sure not sure okay well you can let us know we'll we'll know soon enough all right uh if no other items we can go on to the approval of the minutes we have two meetings October 8th 2024 and November 12th 2024 are we okay to uh make a motion to recommend approval on those so moved thank you any discussion on any of those all right I'll do the October um I'll do the October 8th one first so Al I Cindy I Cindy Brown Gary yeah Z Zack Leu I thank you and they'll take the next minutes of November 12th so uh motion please oh so moved thank you thank you any discussion on those no roll call Al Al's I Cindy Cindy Brown I Gary uh abstain thank you Zach Zack Leu I Duncan Duncan I Karen RS I thank you okay so we are wrapping up here so our um I just want to go over on the agenda that got posted tonight um so I've added some more detail to it so I have scheduled out what our upcoming department meetings are for fiscal 26 so this way uh any anyone from the general public would might have interest in a particular Department uh can know when we have them scheduled so it's on the agenda that's posted on the town hall today but I'll go over that so as of January 7th is our next meeting and we have the fire department the Town Clerk and register of Voters then we have the Board of Health to discuss the Board of Health budget the transfer station and animal control then on January 14th we have police assessors veteran services in the library January 21st we have the treasurer collector and Debt Service Recreation and the town accountant the January 28th meeting so far as the building department and then on February 11th we have Diamond Regional School and then the Westport Community Schools and so we have a couple of Bud couple of departments that are still to be scheduled uh that will work into those dates uh that's the beach conservation Highway snow and ice and then uh with our Town Administrator we usually uh he'll come to a meeting and then we'll we'll catch him and do this together so town hall and Annex select board and Cemetery the meetings to be just the Departments to be scheduled so we'll get those scheduled C we can schedule Highway whatever you'd like okay sure all right let's um I'll look to see where we can pencil it in maybe January 28th might be a good one because we've got a good opening there but I'll I'll uh I'll coordinate with you Gary to make sure because you're going to present for them right yes all right so we'll make sure are you available at all four meetings are you open yeah yes all right okay we'll we'll we'll get one in as quick as possible so thank you um Al has his hand up Al go ahead thank you just just very quickly do you think it's do you think it's important to separate diamond from the schools because they both seem to be you know not controversial by any means but a long-term discussion and it may I'm just suggesting that we may want to split those up into two separate meetings not because of where they are but it's just the length of the time of the two that that we may need only a thought and I'll leave it at that yeah no it's a very good thought I think um The Diamond had suggested they like an in-person meeting and we were going to try to do an in person with the Westport Community Schools okay since that's and so since we were going to be in person maybe due together but it's a good point you raise um we have the option of starting the meeting instead of 6:30 we could start it at 6 and then um and then move into a meeting um or or we can ask Diamond to for their pres they have a half an hour for the presentation and and we try to hold it to that but whatever you want think they're both they're both robust in the in in the in the meeting so I just didn't know whether it was it was uh a good idea to you know throw both of them at the same time that's all and we can certainly move diamond out into later in February because again Diamond the number is what it is there's no opportunity for cuts or changes to the to the budget so it's it's more important for us to get through our town our budget that that can be impacted where this the diamond is a you know information only kind of budget so that can even be pushed to the end of February without without an issue fine what whatever you'd like I I just toss that out that's all what do you think Cindy do you think we can um I I I think it's not a problem at all to um to move it out um would be nice to devote our whole meeting to the local school budget uh as you said they're really um it's really informational only from Diamond side um so there's not much really it's really for us to get a better understanding as to how their budget process works uh I mean certainly a thing you know that we witnessed here in our own uh our own uh school budget with a larger school with a new school that assessment is bound to go up in the future so I mean we've got questions to ask them about the future so oh it may take a little while so maybe we should separate them okay sure so we we can we'll talk separately Cindy to try we'll find dat schedule it maybe the end of February sort of thing to get it out of our tight budget cycle yep that's fine okay good point Al thank you all right um so that's the upcoming schedule uh let's see topics for next meeting you can certainly anybody has any topics just feel free to to uh pass them along to me and we'll get them post on the agenda so our next meeting is the 7th so we've got a little time and uh I have no topics within 48 hours that came to my attention I have no correspondence so I have nothing else so moved yeah as a matter as a matter of uh just information uh I received from Paula Brown today and I would think that almost everyone had as well if you haven't you should reach out there's an update on the open meeting law um compliance with the open meeting law so I received an email from her with information to that in that respect and I would think that it was it was meant for all committee uh members not chairs not you know they it was just for committee members in general I didn't see that come through okay I'm just gonna tell you what what the subject is and uh let me just look this up one second uh open leading meeting law materials um well she sent it out to 32 people I've attached new training memos from the division of open government relating to the open meeting law so um I will forward this to uh everyone here I you know I'm looking at this list and it's like either here nor there as to why there why there are some people on this list and others are not so um I will uh I will send it out and well I will check with her and see why um why some people receive this and other did not uh because it's quite it's quite lengthy definitely send it to just send it to our email address so we can all have it so okay it's certainly pertinent to all of us yeah absolutely all right so thank you for that Cindy because I did not get get that email that your name is not on the list I don't ask me why I don't know why I'm saying I see people on here that I can't imagine why they're on this list and other people that I don't know why they're not okay all right thank you so much so I think we have a motion to adjourn was there a second second second second Super okay I will do a roll call l l Le is I Cindy Cindy Brown I Gary yes Zack Zack Le Bru hi Duncan Duncan law hi and Karen R ey thank you very much have a January Happ Merry Christmas