[0:02] Everyone at it being 7:30 on Tuesday,
[0:05] September 15, 2026, let's begin our town
[0:08] council meeting. Would ask everyone who
[0:10] can to please stand for the pledge of
[0:12] allegiance.
[0:14] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
[0:16] United States of America and to the
[0:19] republic for which it stands, one nation
[0:22] under God, indivisible, with liberty and
[0:26] justice for all. ask you to please
[0:28] remain standing for our moment of
[0:30] silence for all those serving in our
[0:32] military at home and abroad and for
[0:34] their families.
[0:44] » Thank you. I'd ask the clerk to call the
[0:46] role, please.
[0:51] » Councelor Berica
[0:52] >> here.
[0:53] >> Councelor Dudi
[0:54] >> here. Councelor Flareity
[0:56] >> here.
[0:58] >> Councelor Meglio
[0:59] >> here.
[1:00] >> Council Morren
[1:01] >> here.
[1:02] >> Councelor Quilty
[1:03] >> here.
[1:04] >> Council Reynolds
[1:05] >> here.
[1:06] >> Councilor Ringis
[1:07] >> here.
[1:08] >> Council Sterling
[1:09] >> here.
[1:10] >> Thank you.
[1:11] Um
[1:13] we have a lengthy uh agenda this
[1:16] evening. Prior to um beginning on that,
[1:19] I would ask if there are any
[1:20] announcements from council members.
[1:23] Chair will um recognize Council
[1:25] Reynolds.
[1:26] >> Thank you, Mr. President. Uh my
[1:28] announcement
[1:30] um is somewhat a form of a request as
[1:33] well, but it concerns uh a topic that
[1:36] will be covered uh in the next agenda
[1:39] item uh that is uh part of uh an issue
[1:43] in my district. Um and I feel that it's
[1:46] necessary that uh comment on the state
[1:49] of the current town of Brainreeowned
[1:52] drainage easement that runs from the
[1:55] White Road vicinity located on the
[1:57] northern end of Hawthon Road. Uh and
[2:01] then that runs southerntherly direction
[2:03] across Home Park Avenue continuing in a
[2:06] southerntherly direction behind the
[2:07] homes along Hawthon Road through the
[2:10] parcel of land formerly known as the St.
[2:12] Thomas Moore Church property and where
[2:15] it continued to cross. It crosses over
[2:18] Old Elm Street between two private
[2:20] residential homes and emptying into a
[2:22] culvert under the Elm Street extension
[2:26] and then into the Manatquit River as it
[2:28] was designed. Uh this culvert is
[2:32] probably
[2:34] 70 years old. This drainage ement is
[2:36] about 70 years old. It was designed uh
[2:39] for much less volume that what has been
[2:42] added to it through the years due to
[2:43] residential development. Um, bottom line
[2:47] is is that I'd like to ask the uh the
[2:50] DPW committee to hold a meeting so that
[2:53] we can get an assessment from the town
[2:56] of Brainree uh as to how we can uh
[3:00] address this sement where it has caused
[3:03] uh damage to homes uh last summer and
[3:06] years prior and has caused decades of
[3:09] flooding uh in that area. And with that
[3:12] property being converted, uh my concern
[3:16] is is that the issue um would not uh be
[3:21] in the best interests of private
[3:23] homeowners and their properties.
[3:26] Thank you, Mr. President.
[3:27] >> Thank you, Councelor RS. Are there any
[3:29] other announcements? Councelor Qualty.
[3:32] >> Thank you, Mr. President. Um there will
[3:34] be a meeting to discuss uh resurrecting
[3:36] the friends of the senior center on
[3:38] Thursday, September 24th from 3:30 to
[3:41] 4:30. That'll be at the Logan auditorium
[3:44] at the the public library and all are
[3:46] welcome. Thank you.
[3:48] >> Thank you councelor.
[3:50] There any other council or vice
[3:52] president mag.
[3:53] >> Thank you council president Morren. The
[3:56] East Branchry Community Action Coalition
[3:59] is starting up our meetings again is now
[4:02] that fall is here. We took uh August
[4:04] off. Um the meeting is to uh Thursday
[4:08] night, September 17th at 6:30 p.m. at
[4:11] the Brainree Yacht Club on Gordon Road.
[4:14] Mayor Joyce will be joining us and it's
[4:16] a great opportunity to hear what's
[4:18] happening in East Brainree, all of
[4:20] Brainree, and to ask questions. So
[4:23] hopefully everyone will join us on
[4:24] Thursday at 6:30. Thank you.
[4:30] » Okay. If there if no one else has any
[4:31] announcements, I have two. Um Friday, no
[4:35] uh September 18th at 10:00 in this
[4:38] auditorium, there'll be a ceremony
[4:42] um in recognition of National Prisoner
[4:44] of War Missing and Action Recognition
[4:46] Day
[4:47] uh in Cahill Auditorium. And also there
[4:51] is a planned ceremony prior to the
[4:52] Briner High School football game at 7
[4:55] p.m. at at the alumni field um to
[4:59] recognize and uh commemorate the our our
[5:03] prison prisoner of wars and missing in
[5:05] action. Also um the Brantry Mid-Autumn
[5:11] Festival also known as the August Moon
[5:13] Festival that was scheduled for this
[5:15] weekend was rained out. It is to be
[5:18] rescheduled to the um 27th of September
[5:22] um same location and I believe it's um
[5:26] in the afternoon I believe the hours are
[5:28] 1 to 4. Um so that will be that has been
[5:31] rescheduled and will be held on the
[5:34] 27th.
[5:36] Okay. We now uh will move to the
[5:39] approval of minutes uh for the meeting
[5:42] of uh June 16, 2026. Is there a motion
[5:46] to approve the minutes?
[5:47] >> Motion to approve the minutes.
[5:49] >> Second.
[5:50] >> Motion's been made and seconded. All
[5:51] those in favor?
[5:52] >> I.
[5:54] >> It's unanimous.
[5:55] We'll now move to the citizens concerns
[5:58] um uh portion of the meeting. Uh this is
[6:04] uh Mr. George Clemens or his attorney
[6:08] has uh asked for uh time to present. Uh
[6:12] he is here. Um this is treated uh under
[6:16] rule 35 of the council as as a public
[6:19] comment period. It is not um for the
[6:23] council to engage in questioning or or
[6:27] inquiry at this time since there is
[6:29] nothing before the council. I I do not I
[6:32] would caution the council from from uh
[6:35] any reaction or or interaction
[6:38] >> closer to your mic
[6:40] >> um because it could it could result in
[6:43] an uh open meeting violation. So we will
[6:46] uh listen to the presentation as public
[6:49] comment. Mr. Clemens.
[6:58] » Thank you President Warren. Um,
[7:00] [clears throat] thank you councilors for
[7:02] allowing me to uh attend the meeting
[7:03] this evening. Uh, as you all know,
[7:06] George Clemens, developer, Hawthorne
[7:08] Preserve. Um,
[7:11] I think you've all been copied in the
[7:13] emails. I think we all know what's going
[7:14] on at the Hawthorne Preserve project.
[7:17] Um, we've been working [clears throat]
[7:19] for the better part of a year with the
[7:22] uh with the current DPW director, the
[7:24] mayor's office, and Mike, if you could
[7:27] lay those out so that the council can
[7:29] see them. We've had an extreme
[7:31] challenge, and I'm not sure exactly why
[7:33] that is. Um, there is an easement that
[7:37] carries about 12 acres of surface runoff
[7:40] from a neighbor from neighboring
[7:42] properties through our property. Um,
[7:48] we
[7:49] relocated a portion of the underground
[7:52] easement. And so you're a little more
[7:55] familiar with it,
[8:00] there was a taking in uh 1940, which
[8:04] came off of Thorndikeke Street, picks up
[8:06] all of the rainwater off of uh this
[8:09] neighborhood, Park Street, giant area.
[8:13] Originally, that was that was the first
[8:15] easement. 1982, they the town took
[8:19] another easement. This is an underground
[8:21] pipe that feeds into my property.
[8:24] There's a narrow channel um
[8:28] that they dump rain water into. 96 they
[8:31] took a series of easements so that they
[8:34] could bring it out under the old Elm
[8:36] Street [snorts] and they did that.
[8:39] This was never really, you know, there's
[8:41] been historic flooding over in that
[8:42] area. So, when we first evaluated this
[8:45] property for development, we listened to
[8:49] neighbors concerns. We went ahead, we
[8:51] looked at this underground section of
[8:53] piping. It was fully clogged with
[8:55] debris. And when I say debris, we're
[8:57] talking large boulders. We're talking
[8:59] trees. Um,
[9:02] believe it or not, a shopping cart. So
[9:05] we found that if we can clean the sement
[9:08] that would become a better situation. We
[9:11] went ahead and we did that. We relocated
[9:14] the seizement as part of the vetted plan
[9:16] through the planning department. But
[9:18] what we found is in any substantial rain
[9:22] event,
[9:23] this this is uh this is a hardpiped
[9:26] easement and this is an open easement
[9:29] where this water comes through in a
[9:31] 36-in pipe. This isn't a small pipe.
[9:34] This is a substantial pipe running 12
[9:37] acres of uh surface roadway through our
[9:40] property. So under heavy rain
[9:42] conditions, this this comes out with
[9:44] such velocity that it overtakes this
[9:46] entire pro this entire property. So we
[9:50] identified that we had a meeting with
[9:51] DPW. We asked for a meeting. We said,
[9:55] "Look, what we need to do is this leg of
[9:59] the easement, which is open to the year,
[10:01] has has not been cleaned in some time.
[10:04] We don't know. We requested records.
[10:06] Nobody has records of the last time this
[10:08] easement was cleaned. [snorts]
[10:10] We've had nothing uh no forwardthinking
[10:14] dialogue. As a matter of fact, we've had
[10:15] nothing but refusal to clean the
[10:17] seizement, and I'm baffled by it. Um,
[10:21] I've worked in the town of Brainree for
[10:23] 20 years. We're making a $40 million
[10:26] capital investment in this community of
[10:28] which the town in the very near future
[10:32] will be the beneficiary of
[10:36] 7 to $800,000 in annual tax revenue.
[10:39] We're not asking for a lot. It's not an ask for us. This is a legal
[10:44] obligation to maintain its easement.
[10:48] We've been unable to communicate
[10:50] effectively. We're curious as to why the
[10:53] town will not clean this easement. We've
[10:56] went so far to offer to do that work and
[10:59] we were told, "Nope, we'll handle it."
[11:01] We have no definitive timelines.
[11:04] Um and recently,
[11:08] maybe two weeks ago, the town went
[11:10] behind um behind what is a Exxon station
[11:14] where this ultimately goes out to the
[11:17] Manatqua River and they excavated and
[11:19] cleaned that channel of the easement,
[11:21] which makes zero sense to me. I'm not an
[11:24] engineer and you don't need to be an
[11:26] engineer, but the source of contamin
[11:29] contaminants that clog this line are
[11:32] directly through this congested area
[11:34] here. So, the sensible approach is if
[11:38] you're going to clean an easement, start
[11:40] where start here, dig this out, provide
[11:44] directional flow for water. The water
[11:46] does not make it through this open
[11:48] channel. It floods out the property.
[11:52] No surprise because, you know, and I'm
[11:55] gonna leave these here. If anybody wants
[11:56] to look at them, I'll get them in the
[11:58] morning. [snorts] But I'm frustrated. A
[12:00] $40 million capital investment in our
[12:02] community and I can't get a DPW director
[12:05] to clean an easement. That's
[12:07] unreasonable. It's beyond unreasonable.
[12:09] [snorts] Um, it's been a year. I have
[12:12] closings where the town would start
[12:15] receiving revenue, tax revenue, real
[12:17] revenue from this project within the
[12:20] next 30 days. And what do I get told by
[12:22] the by our by our DPW director? There
[12:26] will be no occupancy permits. That's
[12:30] unbelievable to me. You should all be
[12:32] shocked by that.
[12:34] >> I'm more you know
[12:35] >> you've got I just want to give you
[12:38] you've got about 30 seconds left of your
[12:41] time.
[12:41] >> We'll leave it at that.
[12:44] >> Okay.
[12:44] >> You know, I'm beyond frustrated. I met
[12:46] with Peter Machuk on Monday. I see this
[12:49] project going sideways. I'm not going to
[12:51] take the blame for it. This is
[12:54] outrageous. Thank you for your time.
[12:56] >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Clemens.
[13:08] Turning to the council agenda. Council
[13:12] councelor Barerica's demolition delay
[13:15] order uh 26026.
[13:18] ordinate demolition delay ordinance
[13:20] amendment or take up any action relative
[13:23] there too. This is a public hearing. Uh
[13:26] we will be continuing it to October
[13:28] 20th, but we need to open the hearing.
[13:30] Is there a motion to open the public
[13:31] hearing?
[13:34] >> Motion to open the public hearing.
[13:36] >> Motion's been made and seconded. All
[13:38] those in favor?
[13:39] >> I
[13:40] >> Okay. Um this was tabled in the
[13:44] committee of ordinance on ordinances
[13:46] rules as they work through the proposed
[13:48] amendments. At this time we will
[13:49] continue the hearing again till October
[13:52] 20th. Is there a motion to continue the
[13:54] public hearing for order 26026
[13:58] to October 20th 2026 at 7:30 p.m.
[14:02] >> So moved.
[14:03] >> Second.
[14:04] >> Motion's been made and seconded. All
[14:05] those in favor? I
[14:07] >> It's unanimous. Thank you.
[14:11] Moving to order 26049
[14:14] DMAC Enterprises LLC. Reszone portion of
[14:18] 17011721
[14:22] Washington Street or take up any action
[14:24] relative there too. This is also a
[14:26] public hearing. Is there a motion to p
[14:29] to or open the public hearing for order
[14:32] 2649?
[14:34] >> So moved.
[14:35] >> Second.
[14:36] >> Motion's been made and seconded. All
[14:37] those in favor? I
[14:40] >> I will now refer to councelor Ringus,
[14:43] chair of the committee on ordinances and
[14:45] rules for a recommendation on order
[14:48] 26049.
[14:50] >> Uh the committee ordinance and rules met
[14:51] on September 10th um regarding um this
[14:54] um request. We were taken on a
[14:56] historical narrative by attorney
[14:57] Johnson. Um but we did send this to the
[15:00] full council with a unanimous airable
[15:02] recommendation.
[15:03] >> Thank you, Council Ringus. Um Mr.
[15:06] Johnson uh is here to give us an
[15:08] overview on on this. Um prior to his
[15:12] overview, I wish to state for the
[15:15] record. Uh this property is is near my
[15:19] home, but I am not um an abuter to it on
[15:23] by the determination of the planning
[15:25] department and um by measurement by the
[15:28] planning director. So I am allowed to
[15:31] participate despite me being kind of
[15:35] close. I'm about a house away from being
[15:36] in a butter. So, um, Mr. Johnson, would
[15:41] you like to give an overview about, um,
[15:44] a area of the town, which is, you know,
[15:47] probably the best area of the of the
[15:49] town in my humble opinion. Uh, go ahead.
[15:52] The floor is yours.
[15:53] >> Take a vote on that. [clears throat]
[15:56] >> For the record, uh, my name is Carl
[15:58] Johnson. I represent Petitioner DMAC
[16:00] Enterprises, Inc., and Diane Pompio
[16:03] Malti, manager, uh, relating to this
[16:06] council order 2609.
[16:08] [snorts] Um, to reclassify to resident
[16:12] to reclassify a residence B portion of a
[16:14] split lot, which is lots in more than
[16:17] one district as defined in our bylaw.
[16:20] both general
[16:22] and to uh general business.
[16:25] Excuse me. The property is lies in both
[16:27] general business and residents uh B at
[16:31] 7701 through 1721 Washington Street. Uh
[16:35] [snorts] a split lot by the way is
[16:37] controlled by um 135306.
[16:40] It does have a provision where a split
[16:42] lot can be within 150 ft could be
[16:47] extended for the most for the least um
[16:50] for the business use into residents. But
[16:52] this site as we'll go over in a minute
[16:55] as you can see on here is probably 400
[16:58] ft from Washington Street to the rear
[17:01] portion and doesn't qualify. Therefore,
[17:03] we have to uh reszone the property.
[17:07] I've been asked tonight not to be
[17:09] repetitive. um from what I've done in
[17:12] the past uh two meetings, one before the
[17:14] planning board and one before the rules
[17:16] and ordinance committee which I very
[17:18] much enjoyed by the way in the
[17:20] questions. Um so I will go right into
[17:23] the petition plan which is before you
[17:26] and again
[17:29] this site is currently 2.1 uh acres.
[17:34] It's surrounded by Washington uh
[17:36] Washington Street here. And this is the
[17:38] narrowest part of of the property. It's
[17:41] a little over approximately 200 ft uh
[17:45] 212. And it runs along Massachusetts
[17:49] Avenue. Massachusetts Avenue is a paper
[17:52] street
[17:55] or it's an unconstructed um private way.
[17:58] This is Old Colony Avenue in the back.
[18:00] That was um [snorts]
[18:03] again the same thing. It's a private
[18:05] unconstructed way or a paper street. And
[18:08] this is North Fork Avenue. North Fork
[18:10] Avenue as we have u found is all within
[18:14] the the property line of this Northfor
[18:17] Avenue. I'll show in a minute is 33 feet
[18:20] wide. It was a passageway on a plan that
[18:23] was shown in 1876
[18:26] um when they were doing loting plans for
[18:28] the Brainree Highlands. Rentry
[18:30] Highlands. Most of it were not completed
[18:33] until um the beginning of the 20th
[18:35] century. Uh my house was one of the one
[18:38] of the first is in a subdivision was
[18:41] 1937.
[18:43] Um this property again is this is Washington Street. This is the
[18:51] line right now that is general business
[18:53] district.
[18:58] um
[19:01] general business district. So, it's only
[19:04] 17,050
[19:06] square feet where the rest of the
[19:08] property is uh much larger at 74,446
[19:13] ft. What we are proposing to do by this
[19:16] is to extend this for the entire length
[19:19] of the property was has been recommended
[19:21] to us by um planning and and others.
[19:25] There are a lot of uh different uh
[19:28] restrictions upon the property as you'll
[19:30] see right here.
[19:32] Um this parking on the property is in
[19:36] the residential zone. One a piece of the
[19:39] building, this back portion of this
[19:41] building is in the residential zone and
[19:43] well as uh the site circulation and so
[19:46] forth.
[19:47] The other things that are incorrupted
[19:49] was a 20 foot wide sewer easement that
[19:51] goes across the property which you can't
[19:54] build upon although you can park upon.
[19:57] These lines are grade lines or contour
[20:00] lines show a steep drop off
[20:02] approximately from 136 at this point to
[20:06] 120 and it goes to 120 and it comes out
[20:09] all the way to the back to roughly 100.
[20:13] This is a wetlands line that goes around
[20:16] the property. These are actual wetlands.
[20:19] The other portion of it on the site um
[20:23] is uh there are two buffer zones.
[20:25] There's a 50 foot and a 100 foot buffer
[20:27] zone. So that there are things you can
[20:29] build in a buffer zone uh uh but you
[20:32] can't in in the wetlands line, but
[20:34] that's all part of uh conservation. So
[20:37] it is restricted uh quite a bit.
[20:46] again uh Washington Street is um is a
[20:50] state highway which is a 60-oot layout
[20:52] and that actually has moved a little bit
[20:55] widened over the years. So where the
[20:58] zone line is shown has hasn't increased
[21:02] uh very much. the other private the
[21:05] other streets, Old Colony Avenue again
[21:07] and Northfor Avenue um are private ways.
[21:12] We'll show in a minute. One of the most
[21:14] important things that that we determined
[21:17] why Northfork Avenue uh was owned by the
[21:20] uh the Pompio family and now um of DMAC
[21:25] um Enterprises LLC is that in 1971 I'm
[21:30] going to show you a plan is probably the
[21:32] most important um other than the origin
[21:34] of Northfor Avenue and that was because
[21:37] the town took that was an existing
[21:40] street uh Beiels Road but it was always
[21:43] unconstructed. In 1971, there was a um
[21:47] layout and taking for Beiel's road. And
[21:49] when it was finished, they assessed um
[21:53] Henry Pompio betterments because now he
[21:56] bounded along a pro um a public way and
[22:01] that also gives him access to the lower
[22:03] part of his property. Um at that time
[22:14] as I said be as I said that the the
[22:17] property is restricted. What this uh
[22:19] reszone would do would create a single
[22:21] parcel which 89,600
[22:24] square ft uh and will provide a unified
[22:27] neighborhood business parcel and of 2.45
[22:31] acres. by a business parcel. This is
[22:33] again been in existence since 1950. It's
[22:37] developed uh slowly over time. It has
[22:40] had a number of businesses whether it be
[22:42] pharmacies, hairdressers,
[22:45] um dentists at one time. There's fast
[22:47] food restaurant, there's a convenient m
[22:49] on there now. It's had a whole host of
[22:51] uses that served the Massachusetts
[22:54] Avenue area in particular. Um but it has
[22:58] generally the uh the highlands area and
[23:01] the reason that
[23:05] it came about.
[23:11] This is this is the uh 1876 plan. And
[23:15] this is the site and this was um a
[23:19] railroad station called Brainree Depot
[23:22] that was uh it was first built in 1866
[23:26] and ran up until um
[23:29] 1958. This is railroad tracks are split
[23:32] and there were different um accesses to
[23:35] the um rail lines at that time and at
[23:38] one time there were street cars that
[23:40] went in the front of the property.
[23:43] It went from South Brainree to Brockton.
[23:46] This is a blow up of that same uh area
[23:49] that's shown there. And what I pointed
[23:51] out is this says passageway 33 feet or
[23:54] two rods wide. And you can see that this
[23:57] is within this property. This property
[24:00] in 1911 became registered land in an
[24:03] incorporated um
[24:07] the same area. And there are plans that
[24:09] show in 1911 that the engineer who was
[24:14] putting out these loting plans or house
[24:16] plans to be sold uh in in Boston mostly
[24:21] uh they uh called it Northfor Avenue for
[24:26] because it was in Northfor County
[24:27] probably. But that became the word
[24:30] Norfork Avenue. So we had to prove
[24:33] essentially that the owner owned all of
[24:36] the fee in Northfor Avenue and it's
[24:38] reflected in their um some of the the
[24:41] documents that I gave you. the um
[24:44] certificate um and the deed into the um
[24:48] Pompio family in 1950 uh referenced the
[24:51] fact that uh the soil and the fee in
[24:56] this the soil and the fee in Northfor
[24:58] Avenue um in Old Colony Avenue stayed
[25:02] with the um property and was not deemed
[25:06] to be a road so they owned it. Mass
[25:08] Avenue was different. That that was not
[25:10] included.
[25:17] This is a zoning map that you may have
[25:19] had in the booklet if you looked at it.
[25:20] And this is um shows Beiel's Road when
[25:25] it was a paper street and that was
[25:27] Norfork when it was a paper street. And
[25:29] you can see that this only occupied a
[25:31] small pieshaped portion of the premises.
[25:38] Probably the most important uh document
[25:41] approved that was shown in in the
[25:44] booklet is five and this was a taking by
[25:47] the town of Brainree
[25:49] uh for the layout of that portion of
[25:51] Beiel's road and it indicates on the
[25:55] side of this and I want to read it. It
[25:57] indicates lots 8 and through 13
[26:00] assessor's plan and it references the
[26:03] Henry A. Pompio's uh property and it
[26:06] says 276 ft. So they assess 276 ft of
[26:12] betterments out to here which indicates
[26:15] that um his property bounded along by uh
[26:20] Beiel's road which is um
[26:24] what it indicates on the older plans. So
[26:27] essentially without going in any further
[26:30] um I think that we proved that it in
[26:33] fact um does belong. The fee uh or the
[26:37] ownership of all the land area is within
[26:40] the Pompio family.
[26:48] » Are you all set, Mr. Johnson? Or
[26:51] >> are you all are you? I I just want to go
[26:53] for the public benefits that one of the
[26:55] things we're supposed to uh prove is in
[26:58] the public benefits allow them to meet
[27:00] dimensional density requirements on the
[27:02] enlarged parcel. Improve traffic
[27:04] circulation removes restrictions without
[27:07] encroaching into the residential areas
[27:09] of the buildings and accessory parking.
[27:12] enhancing the tax base as a unified
[27:14] business zone and eliminating a split
[27:16] lot taxes which would be residential and
[27:19] uh business at a commercial rate. It
[27:22] increases site parking, reorganizes
[27:25] uh for more safe traffic circulation and
[27:28] a better utilization of the buildings
[27:30] within the neighborhood center. Um
[27:32] that's probably the briefest
[27:33] presentation I've had to make and they
[27:35] cut a lot of things out, but I'm sure
[27:37] it's appreciated. I would uh really say
[27:40] that this has been taken a long time, a
[27:43] couple of years because of what we had
[27:44] to prove without uh any uh evidence and
[27:48] it's been um you know it's been a while
[27:51] but I would thank everybody from the
[27:52] planning board to the rules and
[27:54] ordinance committee meeting and the full
[27:56] council and ask for your support. Thank
[27:58] you.
[27:58] >> Thank you. Are there any questions from
[28:00] the council for Mr. Johnson?
[28:03] >> Okay, seeing none, is there anyone from
[28:04] the mayor's office who wishes to speak
[28:06] on this matter?
[28:15] » [clears throat]
[28:15] >> Good evening, council. Uh, Peter Matic,
[28:17] planning director. I believe um the
[28:18] council was supplied with the pling
[28:20] board recommendations, but uh the
[28:22] planning office and uh through obvious
[28:24] the mayor's office, we have worked with
[28:26] attorney Johnson um and we fully support
[28:29] uh from a staff standpoint and from a
[28:31] planning board standpoint support the
[28:32] zoning change. Thank you.
[28:34] >> Thank you, Mr. Magic. Is there anyone
[28:37] from the general public who would wish
[28:39] to speak on this matter?
[28:44] Seeing none, is there a motion to close
[28:46] the public hearing?
[28:48] >> Motion to close the public hearing.
[28:49] >> Second for discussion. I just had one
[28:51] comment.
[28:52] >> Sure. Council Bar.
[28:53] >> Yeah. Thank you. Um I just wanted to to
[28:56] say thank you, Mr. Johnson, and to the
[28:58] planning department. In our master plan,
[29:01] which was completed a few years ago, one
[29:03] of the goals was to work to eliminate
[29:06] split lots and do a better job unifying
[29:10] our zoning. So, when we get the
[29:11] opportunity to do that, I know this is
[29:13] the second one that's come up in the
[29:15] last couple of years. Um, I think that
[29:17] is a good chance to start cleaning up
[29:19] some of our um outdated zoning. So, I
[29:23] will be fully supporting this tonight
[29:24] and thank you to the ONR committee for
[29:27] their their work on this as well.
[29:29] >> Thank you.
[29:30] Council Bara. Um,
[29:34] I would just echo Councelor Barerica's
[29:37] um comments and thank Attorney Johnson
[29:40] for his extensive work on this. um as
[29:44] someone representing the district and um
[29:47] living in close proximity, makes no
[29:50] sense for it to have been split in the
[29:53] first place. And in his extensive
[29:56] research, he could really not find a
[29:59] reason why it was split. Um and uh it it is clearly I think in the best
[30:06] interest of the town um to uh unite this
[30:10] under a a commercial um designation.
[30:14] So uh with the closing of the public
[30:16] hearing, is there a motion?
[30:20] » Motion to approve the reszone as
[30:22] submitted as order 26049.
[30:25] >> Second.
[30:26] >> Motion's been made and seconded. All
[30:28] those in favor?
[30:29] >> I. It's unanimous. Thank you again for
[30:32] the work of the committee on ordinances
[30:34] and rules. Thank you, Mr. Johnson. Thank
[30:37] you, Mr. Matchic. We'll now move to 26
[30:42] 050.
[30:44] Third hearing, Mayor Allen Allen Street
[30:48] Reconstruction right ofway acquis
[30:50] acquisition or take any action relative
[30:52] there too. This is also a public
[30:54] hearing. Is there a motion to open the
[30:56] public hearing for order 26 050
[31:00] third uh number three?
[31:02] >> So moved.
[31:03] >> Second.
[31:04] >> Motion's been made and seconded. All
[31:05] those in favor?
[31:06] >> I will now refer to councelor Quilty,
[31:10] chair of the committee on the department
[31:12] of public works for recommendation on
[31:14] order 2650-h.
[31:18] The committee on the department of
[31:19] public works met earlier this evening
[31:21] and sends this to the full council with
[31:23] a unanimous favorable recommendation.
[31:27] Thank you councelor Quilty. Is there a
[31:28] planning board recommendation?
[31:36] » Mr. Matt, is he just he just stepped
[31:38] out?
[31:39] >> Okay.
[31:55] Excuse me, council. I just had to go to
[31:57] the men's room. Um the planning boards
[31:59] did have a public hearing on this and
[32:00] the planning board fully supports the um
[32:03] roadway layout as proposed by um our
[32:07] staff over at the engineering
[32:09] department.
[32:10] >> Thank you. Uh this is the third and
[32:13] final vote on this project, the Allen
[32:15] Street project. Would anyone else from
[32:16] the mayor's staff wish to speak on the
[32:19] order?
[32:21] Recognize Mr. Thompson.
[32:30] » Thank you, uh, President MREN and
[32:32] members of the council. Uh, I'll be
[32:34] brief. I'm sure everybody's uh had their
[32:36] fill of Allen Allen Street uh
[32:39] presentations, but um I'm here tonight
[32:42] just seeking a favorable vote from the
[32:44] council uh to alter the layout of Allen
[32:46] Street. Um as with the other uh
[32:49] presentations to the council over the
[32:50] past several months. Uh this request is
[32:53] uh related to the Allen Street
[32:54] reconstruction project. Uh this is the
[32:57] last action that will be required of the
[32:59] council uh to satisfy state and federal
[33:02] uh rightaway requirements to ensure that
[33:04] the project moves forward to
[33:06] construction. Uh at the last council
[33:08] meeting, the council approved an order
[33:10] for taking that secured 23 temporary
[33:12] easements and 12 permanent easements
[33:15] along the project corridor. Uh there
[33:17] were three permanent easements that were
[33:19] taken uh labeled as A2 um I'm sorry E2,
[33:23] E3, and E4 on the right ofway plan set.
[33:27] And the purpose for of these three um
[33:30] permanent easements was for roadway and
[33:32] sidewalk construction. Um, favorable
[33:35] action by the council tonight would
[33:37] amend the Allen Street layout to
[33:39] incorporate these three easement areas
[33:42] as after construction, uh, the general
[33:44] public would have access to these areas.
[33:47] Um, these layout alterations were
[33:49] presented to the planning board at their
[33:51] September 10th meeting uh, and they
[33:52] voted to return a favorable
[33:54] recommendation to the council. Uh, and
[33:56] I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank
[33:58] you.
[33:59] Um, is there any questions from the
[34:02] council on this matter?
[34:04] >> Vice President Magglia,
[34:06] >> thank you very much. Um, we talked a lot
[34:08] about the details of this last time and
[34:11] it's pretty it's a pretty major u piece
[34:15] of work that's happening and it's also
[34:17] quite exciting.
[34:20] >> It's going to be very messy over the
[34:23] next five years and I mean that in the
[34:25] very literal sense of the word. Um
[34:28] people's um access is going to be
[34:31] impacted. There's a huge building that
[34:33] just went up. Now the street is
[34:35] impacted. Is there a 24-hour point
[34:39] person or can there be a 24-hour point
[34:43] person for when there is an issue
[34:45] related to this all of this work that's
[34:48] happening and would that be in the town
[34:51] or would that be with the state?
[34:53] >> Uh the the answer to your question is uh
[34:56] is actually both. So there will be um a resident engineer uh
[35:01] that's standard operating procedure for
[35:04] mass DOT on any project that they
[35:06] oversee. They have a a resident engineer
[35:08] that's on the project at all times. Uh
[35:10] and that I our department of public
[35:14] works and the engineering department at
[35:16] the town level will be in close contact
[35:18] with that resident engineer. So um
[35:23] we'll also make the contact inf uh the
[35:25] contact information for that individual
[35:28] uh available to residents but the
[35:29] residents are also able to reach out to
[35:32] the DPW and we were able to um deal with with things as they come in.
[35:38] >> And is that just during working hours? I
[35:41] noticed in all of the plans it talked
[35:43] about uh the engineer on site and
[35:45] various personnel on site. what happens
[35:47] at 6 o'clock, 8:00, midnight if
[35:49] something should happen.
[35:51] >> Um, also typical with with with um with
[35:54] large scale projects like this, the
[35:55] contractor will have um emergency
[35:58] personnel uh so we can make that, you
[36:01] know, we can make that available as
[36:02] well.
[36:02] >> Great. Thank you very much. That's all I
[36:04] had.
[36:05] >> Thank you, Vice President Maglio. Um are
[36:08] there any other questions from the
[36:09] council? Okay.
[36:12] Um is there anyone if you have nothing
[36:14] further, Mr. Thompson, thank you for
[36:16] your work on this. Um, you've, you know,
[36:19] we've had a lot of documentation.
[36:22] Uh, you've made it clear to us and we
[36:25] appreciate your efforts on this.
[36:27] >> Thank you.
[36:27] >> Um, is there anyone from the general
[36:30] public wishing to speak on this order?
[36:35] Seeing none, is there a motion to close
[36:37] the public hearing on 2603?
[36:41] >> So moved.
[36:42] >> Second.
[36:42] >> Motion's been made and seconded. All
[36:44] those in favor?
[36:45] >> I.
[36:46] >> It's unanimous. I'll now uh ask for a
[36:48] motion on the order.
[36:51] >> Motion. I move that the town council
[36:53] vote to alter the layout of Allen Street
[36:55] and specifically to include within the
[36:57] layout of Allen Street certain parcels
[37:00] being parcels E2, E3, and E4 as shown on
[37:04] a plan entitled alteration and easement
[37:06] plan Allen Street, Brainree,
[37:09] Massachusetts, dated August 20th, 2026.
[37:12] prepared by WSPUSA,
[37:14] Inc.
[37:16] >> second.
[37:17] >> Motion's been made and seconded. All
[37:19] those in favor?
[37:20] >> I.
[37:20] >> It's unanimous. Uh, thank you for your
[37:23] for, uh, I'd like to thank all the town
[37:25] departments for their work on this and,
[37:27] uh, and hopefully as it gets messy, uh,
[37:31] we keep on top of it so that, uh, the
[37:33] residents of Allen Street are are kept
[37:35] safe and, uh, their concerns are
[37:37] addressed.
[37:38] >> Thank you.
[37:39] I would ask now um I'd like
[37:41] to take um a matter out of order. Under
[37:45] new business 26064,
[37:48] council president discussion and vote on
[37:51] statement of interest for supplementary
[37:53] statement to the school building
[37:55] authority or take up any action relative
[37:58] there too. We have with us this evening
[38:00] the superintendent of schools and and
[38:02] the chair of the school committee. This
[38:05] would require same night action request
[38:07] is um uh or same night action. This is a
[38:11] same night action request. Is there any
[38:13] objection from any counselors to same
[38:15] night action on this order?
[38:19] Seeing none, uh I would ask um for
[38:24] either the superintendent or or uh the
[38:27] school committee chair to come up and uh
[38:30] give us a status on where we are with
[38:31] the SBA and and what's being requested
[38:34] this evening.
[38:39] I would note that um councelor uh
[38:43] Sterling and I attended the uh school
[38:45] committee uh meeting last last evening
[38:48] and listen to the um the deliberations
[38:51] and discussion and it was uh very
[38:53] helpful. So superintendent floor is
[38:55] yours.
[38:56] >> Thank you very much. Uh, as many of you
[38:59] know, the MSBA visited Brainree High
[39:01] School for a visit on the first day of
[39:04] school and we had a group of town
[39:06] leaders there along with school leaders
[39:08] and we listened gave some brief
[39:10] presentations and listened to some
[39:11] questions from the MSBA and from the
[39:14] architects that were present
[39:16] during that discussion. Uh, the MSBA uh
[39:19] made it very clear that the decision
[39:21] regarding grade configuration was left
[39:23] up to the town of Brainery. But they did
[39:26] infer that it would be better for us to
[39:27] be more specific in which way we would
[39:30] like to go forward. Um at that point um
[39:34] the school committee decided last night
[39:36] uh to on a vote of 6 to1 to go with a 9
[39:40] through 12 grade configuration for the
[39:43] new or renovated Brainree High School in
[39:46] the hopes that the MSBA will choose to
[39:48] partner with us for this important
[39:50] building.
[39:52] Thank you.
[39:53] >> Thank you. Um, are there any questions
[39:55] from any of the counselors?
[39:58] >> Councelor Barerica.
[39:59] >> Thank you, President Morren. Um, I'm
[40:02] curious just from a procedural
[40:05] standpoint because we don't have
[40:07] anything in our in our uh documents for
[40:10] the tonight.
[40:12] Is there do we need to revote on the
[40:15] statement of interest or is this just
[40:16] more of anformational update? So what
[40:19] this is is a is a supplemental or an
[40:23] updated or clarification of of this
[40:25] statement of interest. It does not
[40:27] require a revote on the statement of
[40:29] interest that was approved by the
[40:31] council previously. This is just in
[40:33] supplement to that to clarify um to the
[40:38] um uh SBA what the preference of the of
[40:41] the town is. and they were asking that
[40:44] if the school committee and the uh
[40:47] council could um you know state in
[40:51] unison what their preferences are.
[40:54] >> Okay. With a followup then so we would
[40:56] be sending up in conjunction with the
[40:58] school committee depending on the
[41:00] outcome of this evening a like an
[41:03] amendment that is signed by either
[41:05] yourself or the entire council. a
[41:07] letter. I believe a letter would be
[41:09] signed by the superintendent, the chair
[41:11] of the u the school committee and and
[41:13] myself.
[41:14] >> Okay. Thank you for clarifying and um I have a lot of faith and trust in our
[41:20] school committee members and know that
[41:22] they have done a ton of work on um the
[41:27] SOI
[41:29] la last school year earlier this
[41:32] calendar year and um I will definitely
[41:35] be fully supporting their decision this
[41:37] evening. So thank you. Thank you for uh
[41:39] answering my questions.
[41:40] >> Thank you for the questions council
[41:41] barer. Are there any other
[41:43] >> not a question?
[41:44] >> Councel Dudy.
[41:46] >> Thank you, Mr. President. Uh having some
[41:47] experience with the MSBA and their
[41:49] processes and procedures. Uh I support
[41:51] the shift to grades 9 through 12 in the
[41:53] high school. Uh when we parted partnered
[41:55] with the MSBA uh on South and East, we
[41:59] addressed an enrollment issue that we
[42:01] were then facing. Uh we worked with the
[42:02] MSBA on those projects receiving
[42:05] significant funding from the state. Um
[42:07] at that point, we had a plan in place
[42:08] for grades 5 through eight. uh and we're
[42:11] going to go back to them to work on the
[42:12] high schools 9th through 12 later on. So
[42:15] now uh modifying the S so SOI stays uh
[42:18] in line with the previous uh plans and
[42:20] conversations we had with the MSBA uh
[42:23] which up to that point, you know, has
[42:25] been an effective partnership. Uh
[42:27] keeping in line with that original plan
[42:28] shows the state that we're serious uh in
[42:31] our original plans and I believe it
[42:33] gives uh the town the best chance we
[42:35] have in addressing the current issues at
[42:36] the high school.
[42:37] >> Thank you, Council Derty. there. Council
[42:40] >> Ringers,
[42:41] >> just a comment. Um I I served on the
[42:43] school committee when we initially voted
[42:45] to transition to that sort of 5 through
[42:47] eight um model and I think I piggyback
[42:50] on what council dudy says. I think it
[42:52] sort of sticks with that path that we
[42:54] had um established at that time that we
[42:57] were going to focus on the 5 through
[42:58] eight to address at that time um was a
[43:00] significant um overcrowding issue that
[43:03] we were facing in all our entry schools
[43:04] and by moving fifth to middle school it
[43:06] sort of alleviated that concern. um and
[43:09] created what we now have following that
[43:11] path to our sort of our new south and
[43:12] our new east. And I think this is now
[43:15] sort of the next step in that process.
[43:16] Um the kids have these bright, shiny,
[43:19] wonderful new middle schools and we hope
[43:21] that at some point it will follow suit
[43:23] that that will continue into their high
[43:25] school years. Um, I applaud and u thank
[43:30] Superintendent uh McDonald and his staff
[43:32] as well as Chairman Rolo and the school
[43:34] committee for the work that they put on
[43:35] this all through last spring through the
[43:38] summer uh and now into the fall. Um, and
[43:40] I am going to uh support this as well.
[43:42] So, thank you.
[43:44] >> There any other comments? Vice President
[43:46] Mley?
[43:47] >> Yes. Thank you. Thank you very much for
[43:48] this update. I'm wondering what has
[43:50] happened since we submitted this to now
[43:55] that results in making this um firm
[43:59] distinction I guess for 9 to 12.
[44:02] >> I think the biggest piece was the the
[44:04] visit that we had with the MSBA in early
[44:06] September where they kind of gave us the
[44:07] indication that it would be important
[44:08] for us to choose one way or the other.
[44:11] And so they said it was important to
[44:14] choose, but was there any did we do any
[44:17] further research or um like what is it
[44:20] that made us choose 9 to 12 versus the
[44:24] what was it 7 to 12?
[44:25] >> Correct.
[44:26] >> Like what what more did we learn that
[44:29] makes that a good idea?
[44:32] >> Well, I don't know if we learned more to
[44:34] make it a good idea. I think it was more
[44:36] about what's the best avenue for the
[44:38] town of Brainy to to be invited into the
[44:41] process. And I think and I don't want to
[44:43] speak for the school committee members
[44:44] that voted, but I think that was one of
[44:46] the driving forces for going in this
[44:48] direction was we felt that this would
[44:50] make give us a better opportunity to get
[44:52] into the partnership.
[44:54] >> Okay. So, this is a this is a strategic
[44:56] decision in order to get the funding.
[44:58] Yes.
[44:59] >> Basically to get a new high school. So,
[45:01] I I
[45:02] >> renovated renovated high school.
[45:03] >> I'm sorry. or a renovated high school
[45:05] >> or renovated. So I'm just wondering
[45:08] did they offer reasons as to why that
[45:12] would be more
[45:15] investment worthy or attractive or we
[45:19] would have um a uh better outcomes. We'd
[45:24] have a better educational program. Like
[45:26] I'm just I'm just looking for something
[45:28] that makes 9 to 12 a really good
[45:31] decision other than it's what we can get
[45:33] the funding for.
[45:34] >> Well, I think it was more about showing
[45:37] the unity, show being more specific as a
[45:39] group, as a town council and as a school
[45:41] committee going in one direction as
[45:43] opposed to having we put this originally
[45:45] in the soi to try to be versatile, you
[45:47] know, try to show our versatility to the
[45:49] MSBA. And when we met with them, they pretty much said it would be better
[45:52] if you could just pick one or the other,
[45:55] which led us to this decision.
[45:58] >> Okay. Thank you.
[45:59] >> You're welcome.
[46:01] >> Are there any other questions?
[46:04] >> Council Flurry.
[46:05] >> Thank you. Not a question, just a a
[46:08] statement to be clear. Um, I attended
[46:10] this meeting um with the MSBA
[46:13] representatives and we toured the high
[46:15] school and I I have a a son who just
[46:17] graduated from the high school and a
[46:19] daughter who's a senior there and I've
[46:20] been visiting the high school, you know,
[46:22] semi-regularly for the last I don't know
[46:26] seven or eight years. And um what this
[46:29] [clears throat] tour did was take me
[46:31] beyond the area of the gym and the
[46:34] cafeteria and the auditorium, the front
[46:37] of the building so to speak that I have
[46:41] regularly seen, which is not fancy. It
[46:43] is not fancy in there, but it is clean
[46:45] and it looks like things are at least
[46:48] intact.
[46:51] The tour that I was taken through took
[46:54] us into the science classrooms, the art
[46:57] classrooms, the orchestra room, and what
[47:01] you can see when you get away from the
[47:03] front of the building is a lot of things
[47:07] that just look
[47:10] out of order. So, peeling paint, water
[47:14] damage, faulty sinks, cluttered
[47:17] conditions because of lack of storage.
[47:19] We were told about regular bathroom
[47:21] closures and unattractive bathroom
[47:24] smells because of plumbing problems,
[47:26] water damage because of leaks.
[47:30] There's damaged furniture.
[47:33] It's shabby. It's unwelcoming.
[47:36] And it really is something that needs to
[47:38] be
[47:40] renovated, replaced,
[47:42] radically improved. And this community
[47:45] has known that for a long, long time.
[47:47] Like I sort of thought when my kids were
[47:49] little and attending the integrated
[47:51] preschool that we would have a maybe a
[47:53] new high school by the time my kids were
[47:55] ready to go and that just did not turn
[47:56] out to be the case. But um
[48:01] now we are confronted with this question
[48:04] of whether to change the grade
[48:07] configurations of the high school
[48:09] because in the school master plan it
[48:12] indicated that we were interested in
[48:14] both options.
[48:16] And um I think that a decision to
[48:19] explore the pursuit of a 7 through 12
[48:21] grade configuration may have some merit
[48:23] in theory, but this decision has to be
[48:26] taken in the context that we are in
[48:28] right now. Um and there are two things
[48:32] that are really relevant to consider in
[48:35] my view. One is that we just partnered
[48:38] with the MSBA on two middle school
[48:40] projects where we asked them to support
[48:42] us through building a 5 through8 school
[48:46] once and then another 5 through8 school
[48:49] again. So to change
[48:54] uh to change course at this point
[48:58] um is not in alignment with what we told
[49:00] them we wanted to do in the past. And I
[49:03] can well understand why that might make
[49:05] them hesitate to partner with us because
[49:08] you want to be a partner in good faith
[49:10] and not give the impression that you're
[49:13] going to change at any moment that you
[49:15] don't really know what you're doing and
[49:16] what you need. The other thing is that
[49:19] this community is expecting a 9
[49:21] through12 proposal to come forward and
[49:23] we are absolutely going to need um to
[49:26] pass a debt exclusion in order to fund
[49:28] it. And so I I think that at this point
[49:32] to try and convince a public that is
[49:36] entirely unexpecting this sort of idea
[49:40] to come forward that this is what we
[49:42] should put big money towards is you know
[49:46] perhaps a bigger lift than we want than
[49:48] we should take on. Um so I will be
[49:51] supporting this tonight for sure.
[49:55] >> Well said. Thank you councel flarity.
[49:58] One more time, Vice President.
[50:00] >> Thank you. So, I think that I will also
[50:03] be prepared to support this, but I do
[50:05] want to say that I was hoping that there
[50:08] would be a lot more information
[50:09] available to us. Counselor Flareity just
[50:11] mentioned a master plan, which I don't
[50:14] feel like we actually do have a school
[50:15] master plan. I don't there's hasn't been
[50:18] any real new information since the last
[50:20] time we met which was extremely tense
[50:23] and fraught with um [snorts]
[50:26] with uh urgency and um I would
[50:33] >> I would ask that there be um a real
[50:37] effort to actually create um the kind of
[50:41] communication mechanisms that we can get
[50:44] information the town can get information
[50:46] and we can see that there's actually
[50:49] work happening on the planning part of
[50:51] this. I mean, we still don't know for
[50:53] the rest of the schools what's going to
[50:55] happen. And for me, it it's hard to
[50:58] parcel this out without having a big
[51:01] vision of what the future will bring for
[51:04] our elementary schools, particularly the
[51:06] schools that are in East Brainree. So, I
[51:09] think that is something that I am hoping
[51:12] to see some work on. Um, and um, I think
[51:17] that would really be the spirit of
[51:19] teamwork and collaboration and everyone
[51:22] working together if we actually have a
[51:24] plan that involves our entire public
[51:26] school system and how we're going to
[51:28] fund it and what it's going to look like
[51:30] moving forward. But I do agree with um
[51:33] the need. I just
[51:37] would um I just would have thought it
[51:39] would have played out a little
[51:40] differently. But thank you. That's all I
[51:43] want to say.
[51:44] >> Thank you.
[51:45] Um if if there are no other comments
[51:48] from other councils, I I will take the
[51:50] opportunity to comment. Um
[51:55] I think that
[51:57] in listening to this uh the school
[51:59] committee's discussion last night and
[52:01] particularly in the uh comments of Dr.
[52:03] Horics, a member of the uh um committee
[52:06] in her statement that you know she
[52:08] discussed with other educators which uh configuration was preferential
[52:14] and uh she came down on the side of of 9
[52:18] through 12 and uh from from an
[52:20] educational perspective
[52:23] from my perspective I focus on on the
[52:28] work of this council and the work of
[52:29] this town's government on
[52:32] um the art of the possible. What we are
[52:35] trying to do is get a new high school
[52:37] built and I think we need to um take the
[52:41] steps that are going to enhance the
[52:43] likelihood of success for that. Uh going
[52:48] to a 7 through 12 model would would be
[52:51] disruptive for the elementary schools
[52:53] that we currently have. That would
[52:55] generate opposition.
[52:57] Um, reconfiguring the current middle
[53:01] schools, as council uh, Flareity so
[53:03] articulately stated,
[53:06] would cause questions with the SBA and
[53:08] questions with the public as to are well
[53:13] intended, but are we committed to a
[53:15] direction?
[53:17] Um we I think we if by joining with the
[53:22] school committee this evening I think we
[53:24] demonstrate a unity of purpose and
[53:27] support um for a new high school with a
[53:30] configuration of grades 9 through 12. I
[53:34] think we've also demonstrated in that
[53:36] meeting that we have financial stability
[53:39] that we have not had uh when we have
[53:42] filed and tried to partner with the SBA
[53:44] previously. We've got the money set
[53:46] aside for the feasibility study. We've
[53:49] got our our fiscal house in much greater
[53:52] better order than we had previously.
[53:55] We're ready to to partner uh in a way
[53:57] that in a more meaningful way than we
[53:59] have been in years. So I think that it
[54:01] is important for us to to join uh with
[54:05] the school committee in their action and
[54:08] um and support uh their um communication
[54:12] to the u school building authority. With
[54:16] that I would entertain a motion.
[54:23] I move that the town council join the
[54:25] school committee in supporting its
[54:27] supplemental submission to the school
[54:29] building authority.
[54:30] >> Second.
[54:31] >> Motion's been made and seconded. All
[54:33] those in favor?
[54:34] >> I.
[54:35] >> It is unanimous. Thank you very much.
[54:37] Thank you, Superintendent. Thank you,
[54:39] Chair Rola, for attending this evening.
[54:43] Okay, I got to go find my place again.
[54:45] Here we've done Allen Street. Don't want
[54:47] to do Allen Street again.
[54:51] Okay, we're moving to back to the uh
[54:54] agenda. We'll be moving to 26059
[54:58] council uh amendments to zoning
[55:00] ordinance 135206 and 135604 or any
[55:04] action relative there too. Um this is on
[55:07] as a public hearing but it will be
[55:08] continued to October 20th. Is there a
[55:11] motion to um open the public hearing?
[55:13] >> Motion to open the public hearing for
[55:15] those three orders.
[55:17] >> Second.
[55:18] >> Motion's been made and seconded. All
[55:19] those in favor?
[55:21] >> I
[55:21] >> Okay, we're open. Uh, this was tabled by
[55:23] the committee on ordinances and rules
[55:25] waiting for legal review and the
[55:26] planning board recommendation. At this
[55:28] time, we'll continue the public hearing
[55:30] on uh till October 20th, 20 uh 26 at
[55:34] 7:30 p.m. Is there a motion to continue
[55:36] the public hearing for order 26059?
[55:39] >> Motion to continue.
[55:40] >> Second.
[55:41] >> Motion's been made and seconded. All
[55:42] those in in favor?
[55:44] >> I.
[55:45] >> Okay. Thank you.
[55:48] Okay. Um, next uh is 26061,
[55:54] mayor's authorization to accept
[55:55] donations, veterans programs, or take up
[55:58] any action relative there too. I'd now
[56:01] uh refer to Council Barerica, chair of
[56:02] the Ways and Means Committee for
[56:04] recommendation on the order.
[56:06] >> Thank you, President Morren. The
[56:08] Committee of Ways and Means met uh
[56:10] yesterday on September 14th. We're
[56:12] sending this to the full council with a
[56:14] unanimous favorable recommendation and
[56:17] our many thanks to the donors.
[56:20] >> Thank you, Council Barer. Anyone wish to
[56:22] speak on this matter from the mayor's
[56:24] office?
[56:26] >> Mr. Resmond.
[56:28] >> Good evening. [clears throat] Uh,
[56:28] President MREN and members of the
[56:30] council. Just very quickly, um motion in
[56:32] front of you um would allow uh the town
[56:35] to accept $1,100 um from the two
[56:38] indicated um community organizations
[56:40] that help serve uh provide services to
[56:43] our veterans um community. These were
[56:45] greatly appreciated gifts. And um just
[56:48] for um a little information, this will
[56:50] help um our veteran services officer
[56:52] defay costs for events and community
[56:55] programming. he provides um in service
[56:58] to the veterans in our community um
[57:00] through the course of the year. I'm
[57:01] happy to answer any questions.
[57:04] >> Any questions?
[57:06] Seeing none. Thank you, Mr. Esmond. Um
[57:09] uh Council Reynolds, I apologize.
[57:11] >> Not a question. Thank you, Mr.
[57:12] President. Just a comment. I want to say
[57:13] thank you to the American Legion Post 86
[57:16] and Disabled American Veterans Post uh
[57:20] for their generous donations to the
[57:22] town's veteran services uh office. It is
[57:25] a as we all know it's a growing um
[57:28] interest in supporting the veterans of
[57:30] not only Brainree but also supporting
[57:32] the veterans uh and veteran related
[57:35] issues for the towns of Avon and
[57:37] Hullbrook as well. And I just wanted to
[57:40] make sure that the that the the
[57:42] community had the opportunity to say
[57:44] thank you to those organizations and
[57:46] supporting the town government's uh
[57:50] ability to provide those important
[57:52] benefits that Mr. Eman had enumerated.
[57:55] Thank you, Mr. President.
[57:57] >> Thank you, Councelor Reynolds. Well
[57:59] said. Um
[58:02] there's no further um discussion. I'll
[58:05] take a motion.
[58:07] >> Motion that the town of Brainree be and
[58:09] hereby is authorized in accordance with
[58:11] section 53A of chapter 44 of the
[58:15] Massachusetts General Laws to accept the
[58:17] following gift upon the conditions
[58:19] attached and herein set forth. Donor
[58:22] Brainree American Legion Post86 gift
[58:25] $100 purpose support veteran programs
[58:29] donor Brainree VFW Post1702
[58:33] gift $1,000 purpose support veteran
[58:36] programs
[58:38] >> second.
[58:39] >> Motion's been made and seconded. All
[58:40] those in favor?
[58:42] >> I.
[58:42] >> It's unanimous. Thank you. Thank you,
[58:44] Mr. Esmond. Next to uh 26062 mayor
[58:48] intermunicipal agreement for emergency
[58:50] motor vehicle technician services or any
[58:52] action relative there too. I'll now once
[58:55] again refer to council bareric chair of
[58:57] the committee on ways and means for a
[58:59] recommendation on order 26062.
[59:02] >> Thank you very much president MREN. Um
[59:04] again the committee met yesterday and we
[59:06] are sending this to the full council
[59:08] with a unanimous favorable
[59:10] recommendation.
[59:11] >> Thank you councelor Barerica. Is there
[59:12] anyone from the mayor's staff that would
[59:14] like to speak on this matter? Chief
[59:16] Viola.
[59:21] » Good evening and thank you, Freddy
[59:22] Viola, Fire Chief. Um,
[59:26] I wanted to be able to explain and
[59:28] answer any questions related to this IMA
[59:30] uh intermunicipal agreement with the
[59:32] town of Foxboro. So, I I have to go
[59:34] backwards to go forward. So, I'll just
[59:36] tell you that when um when I first took
[59:39] over, one of the first things that I was
[59:40] doing or did was take an assessment of
[59:43] the um the vehicles that we have in our
[59:45] fleet, which consists of five engines,
[59:47] two ladders, uh one squad, one forestry
[59:50] truck, and a heavy rescue, which I'm
[59:51] dying to hear from the TE on. Uh we also
[59:54] have some administrative vehicles or or
[59:56] light duty vehicles that um we we send
[59:58] out for repairs. We have a number of
[1:00:00] vendors u now and that list grows. Um, a
[1:00:05] lot of the firetruck stuff when it goes
[1:00:07] to be repaired, we have to send it to if
[1:00:10] it's not a light duty repair, it has to
[1:00:12] go to the dealership and the dealership
[1:00:13] charges us if anyone has a vehicle,
[1:00:16] newer vehicle, and they take it to the
[1:00:17] dealership. You understand the
[1:00:19] dealership rates are a lot higher than
[1:00:21] that of [snorts] your typical repair
[1:00:23] shops. So, um, in partnership with, um,
[1:00:27] FCAM and some of the other chief
[1:00:29] organizations, I found that the town of
[1:00:31] Foxboro can do these repairs with
[1:00:33] certified technicians at least rate and
[1:00:37] with a little more expedience than that
[1:00:39] of the dealership. So, I felt that um,
[1:00:42] to relieve some of the stray that we
[1:00:44] have with using the same old same old
[1:00:46] all the time or taxing some of the
[1:00:48] smaller vendors that we should enter
[1:00:50] into this agreement to um, provide some
[1:00:52] repairs. The oldest truck that we have
[1:00:55] currently as a firstline piece of
[1:00:57] apparatus is a 2012 and that uh needs
[1:01:00] some some work to keep that running as a
[1:01:02] frontline piece. Uh that's the engine
[1:01:05] three east side the uh the engine the
[1:01:08] engine 3 which covers the east side of
[1:01:10] Brainree. Um so that needs some repairs
[1:01:12] and they I wanted to be able to do that.
[1:01:14] They they're all certified um Allison
[1:01:17] transmissions, Cumins motors, hail
[1:01:19] pumps, waterous pumps. These are all
[1:01:21] factory standard but um they need
[1:01:24] certified technicians to work on them
[1:01:26] and also to and on an annual basis
[1:01:28] certify them as safe to operate at a
[1:01:31] fire. So um yeah just to eliminate the
[1:01:34] stray and look for more ways to save
[1:01:36] money and make our budget stretch a
[1:01:39] little bit more. This is just one more
[1:01:40] option. We wouldn't use them exclusive
[1:01:42] exclusively for everything, but we would
[1:01:44] use them um periodically especially they
[1:01:47] can offer mobile service so they can
[1:01:48] come out to Brainree and fix it here um
[1:01:52] on that. So they're just we just want to
[1:01:54] add them to as one of our vendor list
[1:01:56] and I would be happy to answer any
[1:01:58] further questions.
[1:02:01] >> Are there any questions?
[1:02:03] >> Council Beric,
[1:02:04] >> just a comment. Um, I think it's
[1:02:06] important and to acknowledge and thank
[1:02:09] you, Chief Fiola, for your work on this.
[1:02:11] You know, this not only is a cost
[1:02:13] savings for the town of Brainree, it
[1:02:17] protects our firefighters, it protects
[1:02:21] our residents by making sure our
[1:02:23] equipment is in service as much as
[1:02:26] possible. I believe in uh one of the
[1:02:29] memos we received through Ways and
[1:02:31] Means. You know, we at one point, I
[1:02:33] think it was in the 90s, we had our own
[1:02:37] firefighter fire truck.
[1:02:40] >> We had a um we had an ASME employee that
[1:02:42] worked as a mechanic. And he was one of
[1:02:44] those people that in a blizzard could
[1:02:46] get a tank running [snorts] on the side
[1:02:50] of the road. He was just one of those
[1:02:51] guys that was very, very handy, very
[1:02:53] good. He could weld, he could do
[1:02:54] everything. So with that there was a
[1:02:56] member of the fire department that
[1:02:58] helped him. Um as time passed those
[1:03:02] positions were faded out and we have we
[1:03:04] still have someone who does fluid breaks
[1:03:07] um twice a month and we have a uh
[1:03:09] Lieutenant Milwood who um oversees that
[1:03:12] keeps that on a steady basis. I'm a I'm
[1:03:14] a real uh preventive maintenance person.
[1:03:16] I am with my own vehicle and I think
[1:03:18] it's very important when it comes to
[1:03:19] frontline apparatus. So, and uh I'm in
[1:03:22] concert with Lieutenant Mil Milwood with
[1:03:24] that. So, um he organizes the those
[1:03:28] types of spot checks uh twice a month as
[1:03:30] well as all these other repairs. He
[1:03:32] interfaces with the vendors. He
[1:03:34] interfaces with the parts companies and
[1:03:35] those things. So, we still have someone
[1:03:37] that does that but doesn't turn
[1:03:39] wrenches. We don't have the capacity or
[1:03:43] the facil or the proper facilities,
[1:03:44] proper waste oil containment, things
[1:03:46] like that that would come along with
[1:03:47] that. So it is a lot easier to um you
[1:03:50] know farm it out essentially.
[1:03:52] >> Well, I I commend you on the your vision
[1:03:56] and your leadership for not just this
[1:03:58] program but for the department because
[1:04:00] these are the little things that end up
[1:04:02] being the big things. Um when there is
[1:04:05] an emergency, our trucks will be ready.
[1:04:08] Um and and that's thanks to your
[1:04:10] leadership. So thank you, Chief.
[1:04:11] >> Thank you,
[1:04:14] Chief. Um, I want to commend you for
[1:04:17] your creativity and your approach to
[1:04:18] this this um this issue. I think it it
[1:04:22] will lead to cost savings. It'll also
[1:04:24] keep vehicles in service. Um, when you
[1:04:27] have to go to the dealership, you not
[1:04:29] only have to pay more, you have to wait
[1:04:31] longer.
[1:04:32] >> Yes.
[1:04:32] >> And um and and that I think is a is a
[1:04:36] public safety issue and for for some
[1:04:39] departments uh you have really have to
[1:04:41] manage uh your vehicles well. I think
[1:04:43] your your vehicle maintenance program,
[1:04:46] you know, I happen to hear a lot about
[1:04:48] that.
[1:04:48] >> Oh, I'm sure you do.
[1:04:49] >> Yes. Um, so I'm I'm well familiar with
[1:04:52] that. It it seems like it's it's active.
[1:04:55] It's important, you know, we've seen we
[1:04:57] know the tragedies in Boston when brakes
[1:04:59] failed on on engines.
[1:05:01] >> It's important to keep up on on those
[1:05:03] things. Um, I share councelor Barerica's
[1:05:08] uh um curiosity about and I remember
[1:05:12] when we did have the de the uh ASME
[1:05:15] employee that that did this work. I
[1:05:17] think we ideally we would we would be
[1:05:21] better off if we could one day get to
[1:05:23] the point where we did have a a fire
[1:05:25] mechanic on staff. in Norwell where I
[1:05:28] was town minister, we were fortunate to
[1:05:30] have two and and so those communities
[1:05:34] that do have them share and and what
[1:05:38] you're doing now is availing yourself of
[1:05:41] a community that has that in a in a
[1:05:43] shrewd way. Um, but I I would like to,
[1:05:47] you know, see if we could get to a point
[1:05:49] where we have a facility that can um,
[1:05:53] you know, where we can properly service
[1:05:55] our vehicles and we have the staff that
[1:05:57] can work on it as well.
[1:05:59] >> Yeah, that would be it's going to take a
[1:06:01] while to get there, but I it's a worthy
[1:06:03] goal.
[1:06:04] >> Yes. I uh just two notes too that you
[1:06:06] know we should I know that you folks
[1:06:08] know but maybe for the public is that we
[1:06:10] have capital uh we have we purchased a
[1:06:13] fire engine this year through capital
[1:06:15] and we have another one spaced out um
[1:06:17] for purchase in you know between now and
[1:06:20] 2030 I believe it is. So um if we find
[1:06:24] one like we did that like this new one
[1:06:27] um we can certainly make that purchase
[1:06:28] and just update our fleet with um with a
[1:06:31] newer newer apparatus. But with all the
[1:06:33] newer apparatus comes with all the
[1:06:36] newer, you know, computers and all the
[1:06:39] other stuff that come with it. And then
[1:06:40] uh the uh ways and means asked me last
[1:06:43] night and I wasn't sure. So I I did some
[1:06:45] research in Cambridge also does this uh
[1:06:47] jointly for the north of Boston. So just
[1:06:50] in case you were wonder I know you were
[1:06:51] wondering last night. So I did find that
[1:06:53] out. So
[1:06:55] >> thank you chief.
[1:06:56] >> Uh if there's no further discussion I'll
[1:06:58] entertain a motion on this order.
[1:07:02] Motion authorizing Mayor Erin v. Joyce
[1:07:06] to execute an intermunic municipal
[1:07:08] agreement on behalf of the town of
[1:07:10] Braintry for shared emergency motor
[1:07:12] vehicle technician services between the
[1:07:15] towns of Braintry and Foxboro.
[1:07:18] >> Second.
[1:07:18] >> Motion's been made and seconded. All
[1:07:20] those in favor?
[1:07:21] >> I.
[1:07:21] >> It's unanimous. Thank you. Um we have on
[1:07:25] the agenda this evening um 2726
[1:07:28] uh which we've had but we have no one
[1:07:32] from the mayor's office attending this
[1:07:34] evening to discuss or give us an update
[1:07:36] on trash and recycling. If there's no
[1:07:39] objection uh I won't remove this from
[1:07:41] the table at this at this point if
[1:07:43] that's okay. Thank you. We'll probably
[1:07:45] have someone at the next at the next
[1:07:48] meeting.
[1:07:50] Um, moving to new business and to the
[1:07:53] very patient folks in the back of the
[1:07:56] room that are going to tell us a lot of
[1:07:58] interesting stuff. Um, we are going to
[1:08:01] move to the F
[1:08:03] order number 3226
[1:08:06] FY25 audit review or any action relative
[1:08:09] there too.
[1:08:11] We've got Romina Mli and Renee Davis of
[1:08:15] CBZ.
[1:08:17] Which one of you wants to start? Good
[1:08:19] evening and thank you for your patience.
[1:08:20] >> Of course. Good evening and thank you
[1:08:22] for having us. I'm Roina Mamelly. I am a
[1:08:25] director with CBiz. Basically that means
[1:08:27] I am the person who's on site conducting
[1:08:29] the audit drafting the financial
[1:08:31] statements and then they go to Renee
[1:08:33] Davis who's a managing director with
[1:08:34] CBIZ for her final review, approval,
[1:08:37] sign off and issuance. So um I want to
[1:08:40] talk a little bit about our process. So
[1:08:42] we're here tonight to present our annual
[1:08:44] presentation on the financial
[1:08:46] statements. Tonight we're only going to
[1:08:48] talk about the annual comprehensive
[1:08:49] financial report for FY25.
[1:08:52] And what we do is we're typically here
[1:08:54] two times a year. So the first time we
[1:08:56] come out is usually the springtime.
[1:08:58] We're a little delayed this year. We're
[1:08:59] actually doing it about now is our
[1:09:00] planning. We go through and we do our planning. We do our risk
[1:09:04] assessments. We document internal
[1:09:06] controls. We look at the town's
[1:09:08] processes and look to see did something
[1:09:10] change. Where can things go wrong? where
[1:09:14] is um where are there items where
[1:09:16] something is lacking that something can
[1:09:18] be strengthened and I will tell you that
[1:09:21] this year there is for FY25 there is no
[1:09:23] management letter there was no material
[1:09:25] weaknesses or significant deficiencies
[1:09:27] in these internal controls and anything
[1:09:29] that we find that was not significant
[1:09:31] would have been communicated with with
[1:09:34] um Mike and his finance team.
[1:09:37] So, as we're going through and we're
[1:09:39] designing these um risks of what we're
[1:09:42] going to test, that ba is our basic um
[1:09:47] I'm going to say line of what we're
[1:09:49] going to test. So, we design all of our
[1:09:52] testing, real estate, user charges,
[1:09:55] expenditure testing. We look at
[1:09:58] compliance with laws and regulations and
[1:10:01] that's how we build our audit. So, every
[1:10:02] year there is a little bit of um an
[1:10:05] unpredictability. We're selecting
[1:10:07] different things for testing and I can
[1:10:10] say that the testing that we performed
[1:10:11] in FY25 we found nothing that didn't
[1:10:15] foot didn't tie in was missing a
[1:10:17] signature nothing. So all of our testing
[1:10:19] came back perfect.
[1:10:22] Then after the town has year-end numbers
[1:10:24] so once they are ready to close their
[1:10:26] books or close to we come out we do an
[1:10:28] import of the of the trial balance into
[1:10:32] our own software. We as a non-attest
[1:10:34] service, we help prepare the financial
[1:10:36] statements. All of that information
[1:10:39] that's in these financial statements
[1:10:41] does belong to the town. We just help in
[1:10:43] putting that together. The town does
[1:10:46] issue an annual comprehensive financial
[1:10:48] report. So that gets submitted to the
[1:10:50] GFOA for a certificate. So the town did
[1:10:54] receive the FY24 certificate in May of
[1:10:57] this year. and we have submitted the
[1:10:59] FY25 report for that same certificate.
[1:11:03] So, we're still waiting to hear back on
[1:11:04] that. Probably be another couple of
[1:11:06] months before those results come back to
[1:11:07] us.
[1:11:09] The financial statements themselves are
[1:11:11] kind of set up as three different levels
[1:11:13] of accounting. So, you have we're
[1:11:16] actually going to start a little bit in
[1:11:17] the back. I'm glad you guys got your
[1:11:19] printed reports. So, thank you Sue for
[1:11:21] putting those out. Um, so in the back of
[1:11:24] the report, actually on if you wanted to
[1:11:27] flip, you don't have to, but if you want
[1:11:28] to flip, it's on page 110 to 112 is the
[1:11:31] budget to actual. This is the closest to
[1:11:35] cash basis that you can find. So when
[1:11:37] you're talking about your budgets,
[1:11:38] you're looking at where your
[1:11:39] expenditures are, what you've
[1:11:41] appropriated as part of your annual
[1:11:43] budget, what your revenues, how they
[1:11:46] came in, this is where you'd want to
[1:11:48] look. So for FY25,
[1:11:52] the actual general fund revenues came in
[1:11:54] $10 million over what was budgeted. The
[1:11:57] majority of that was in real estate in
[1:12:00] departmental and other and in motor
[1:12:02] vehicle. Um and remember when you're
[1:12:04] putting together your revenue budgets,
[1:12:06] they're conservative estimates. So we we
[1:12:08] would expect that to come in higher.
[1:12:11] Your actual expenditures um came in $2.5
[1:12:15] million lower than what you budgeted.
[1:12:17] And at the end of the day, you had a
[1:12:19] $4.6 million increase in your budget to
[1:12:22] actual. Your budget to actual only
[1:12:25] includes your general fund.
[1:12:28] And so when we move up to the next
[1:12:30] level, your fund financial statements,
[1:12:32] which start on page 33, those also
[1:12:35] include a general fund. But the
[1:12:36] difference is that general fund column
[1:12:38] also includes your stabilization funds.
[1:12:41] So, when we look at the balances that
[1:12:43] are in your general fund on page 33 down
[1:12:46] in your fund balance section, you're
[1:12:49] going to see that there's a commitment
[1:12:51] for continuing appropriations, those are
[1:12:52] articles, for $1.8 million. There's a
[1:12:55] signed fund balance for incumbrances for
[1:12:59] $2.4 million. And then you have an
[1:13:01] unassigned balance of $15.3 million. I
[1:13:05] wanted to point this out because in your
[1:13:07] FY24 report, that amount for your
[1:13:10] unassigned was only $849,000
[1:13:14] because of the legal settlement. So, in
[1:13:17] FY25,
[1:13:18] we saw that um insurance money come in.
[1:13:21] We saw the um town issue the $6 million
[1:13:25] in long-term bonds. So, that revenue is
[1:13:28] now there supporting that number. So, in
[1:13:30] FY23, it was 18.6 million. it went down
[1:13:34] to the 849,000 and now it's back up to
[1:13:37] 15.3 million. That 15.3 million also
[1:13:41] includes your stabilization funds. You
[1:13:43] had two new stabilization funds in FY25
[1:13:47] in override special purpose and a
[1:13:49] special education stabilization fund.
[1:13:51] Those totaled about 2.1 million in new
[1:13:54] funds. And in total, your stabilization
[1:13:57] funds totaled 6.5 million, which is all
[1:14:00] encompassed inside of that $15.3
[1:14:03] million number. You also had a major
[1:14:06] fund for your town capital projects.
[1:14:08] There are certain criteria that needs to
[1:14:10] be met for a major fund to be shown on
[1:14:12] your fund financial statements and that
[1:14:15] fund clearly met that requirement. Um,
[1:14:18] so that's shown there. And then you have
[1:14:19] your non- major governmental funds. The
[1:14:23] good thing about having an annual
[1:14:24] comprehensive financial report is that
[1:14:27] in the back of the of the financial
[1:14:29] statements themselves way in the back
[1:14:31] you have combining schedules. So that
[1:14:33] breaks out each of the types of your
[1:14:35] special revenue funds, any other capital
[1:14:37] project funds and your permanent funds.
[1:14:39] So you can have a little bit deeper
[1:14:42] detail in um in what makes up those that
[1:14:45] non- major governmental funds column.
[1:14:47] Every year we reassess what those major
[1:14:50] funds are and we move them between major
[1:14:52] and non- major based on what those
[1:14:54] assessments come back to. Then if we
[1:14:57] move up another level
[1:15:00] starting um just four pages before that
[1:15:03] on page 29 these are your full acral
[1:15:05] financial statements. So this is where
[1:15:07] it encompasses your governmental
[1:15:08] activities which is made up of all those
[1:15:10] governmental funds. So, your general
[1:15:11] funds, special revenue, capital
[1:15:12] projects, permanent funds, um, and then
[1:15:15] your business type activities are your
[1:15:16] enterprise funds, all lumped together.
[1:15:19] Your enterprise funds are shown there,
[1:15:21] and they're also shown on your
[1:15:22] proprietary fund statements. The
[1:15:24] proprietary fund statements, just break
[1:15:25] them out into the individual ones where
[1:15:28] they're lumped together on your
[1:15:29] statement of net position and statement
[1:15:30] of activities.
[1:15:33] Two big things we talk about every year.
[1:15:34] The two big items on here are your OPED
[1:15:37] and your pension. So, two liabilities
[1:15:40] currently being funded. Um, your pension
[1:15:43] is at as of I should say um the end of
[1:15:47] FY25. The liability was $11.6
[1:15:54] million.
[1:15:55] Did I say that? Do I have that right?
[1:15:57] Yep. Um, the pension plan is 75.2%
[1:16:01] funded. The discount rate hasn't
[1:16:03] changed. It has stayed at 7.125% since
[1:16:06] the prior year. and your current year
[1:16:09] investment return was 10.86%
[1:16:11] which was a little bit down from the
[1:16:12] year before of 13%. So funding is
[1:16:15] scheduled out to um fiscal year 2033.
[1:16:20] Massachusetts law says it has to be
[1:16:22] fully funded by 2040. So you're in line
[1:16:24] with having that funded in time. um
[1:16:28] pension also there's Mass General law
[1:16:30] requires that you're funding this unlike
[1:16:32] OPED with your OPED liability that was
[1:16:36] actually a liability at the end of uh
[1:16:39] June 2025 of $176 million that was up
[1:16:44] slightly um from the prior year by $6
[1:16:46] million.
[1:16:48] your OPED trust fund, which is reported
[1:16:51] in your fiduciary statements. That's the
[1:16:53] money that you vote to set aside to fund
[1:16:56] this um OPED liability in the future.
[1:16:58] That had a balance of $29 million at the
[1:17:01] end of fiscal year 25. That was up from
[1:17:03] 25.8 million the year before. The
[1:17:06] discount rate slightly changed, went
[1:17:07] from 6.46%
[1:17:09] um or that's the new one, down from
[1:17:11] 6.47%.
[1:17:14] So, of that um of the amount that's in
[1:17:16] your OPED trust fund, there's two
[1:17:19] different amounts that you keep. You
[1:17:20] maintain a separate one for town that
[1:17:22] has 17.8 million of the 28 or 29 million
[1:17:27] and the belt has 11.2 million of that
[1:17:29] invested in there.
[1:17:32] One of the things you're going to notice
[1:17:34] in this year's financial statements is
[1:17:35] there was a restatement. And the
[1:17:37] restatement was because in FY25 there
[1:17:40] was a new gazsby that was issued Gazsby
[1:17:42] 101 which related to compensated
[1:17:44] absences. So as part of the
[1:17:46] implementation of that gazsby we
[1:17:49] reassessed what that liability would
[1:17:51] have been had it come into play on 7124
[1:17:54] at the beginning of the fiscal year. So
[1:17:57] that change was over materiality for
[1:18:00] both your governmental activities and
[1:18:02] for your business type activities. So in
[1:18:04] total there was a restatement of $4.5
[1:18:06] million to recognize that implementation
[1:18:08] of that Gazsby. There's an emphasis of
[1:18:11] matter paragraph within the audit
[1:18:13] opinion and there's also some um just
[1:18:16] some documents or uh um verbiage within
[1:18:19] the report about what that was for.
[1:18:22] Other than that, your debt was about the
[1:18:23] same. You had some new debt. You had
[1:18:24] some new um bans that um were issued
[1:18:28] school projects, roadway projects,
[1:18:31] various other capital projects
[1:18:32] throughout the town. Um there were some
[1:18:34] golf mowers. Besides that, there wasn't
[1:18:37] too much going on with debt payments
[1:18:39] looked okay. Your um budget is actually
[1:18:43] for your debt payments was about 6%. We
[1:18:46] like to see that somewhere between 5 and
[1:18:47] 10%. So you're right in line with what
[1:18:49] that percentage should be. Um that
[1:18:52] basically means you're keeping up with
[1:18:53] your capital. You're not letting your
[1:18:55] infrastructure fall apart. Um so so
[1:18:57] you're you're right where you have been.
[1:19:01] And then right at the beginning of the
[1:19:03] report is kind of our opinion. That's
[1:19:05] the only the three or four pages that we
[1:19:07] own in this whole report. The rest of it
[1:19:09] all belongs to you. But beyond that,
[1:19:11] there's the management discussion and
[1:19:12] analysis. If you just want to get an
[1:19:15] understanding of what happened with the
[1:19:17] town's finances, read that section. It
[1:19:20] talks about what the increases were,
[1:19:22] what the decreases were, why they were
[1:19:24] happening, any special items that
[1:19:26] happened. It has a breakout of your
[1:19:27] capital asset activity, additions,
[1:19:30] disposals. It has the information of
[1:19:32] what's happened to your debt, and it
[1:19:34] talks about all the different basis of
[1:19:35] accounting that we just went through.
[1:19:38] Does anybody have any questions?
[1:19:42] >> Council Bara,
[1:19:43] >> thank you. Uh thank you so much and
[1:19:45] appreciate the succinct explanation on a
[1:19:48] very long report. I have one quick
[1:19:50] question. Um the statistical section
[1:19:53] which is so helpful.
[1:19:56] >> Um
[1:19:57] on page 162 you have the operating
[1:20:00] indicators by function and program. I'm
[1:20:03] curious where you or how you gather that
[1:20:07] information because I see that there's
[1:20:09] some in 2024 there's some missing
[1:20:11] figures for a couple of the departments.
[1:20:13] So, I'm just curious like how do you how are you getting like the number of
[1:20:18] false alarms and the number of
[1:20:22] you know like
[1:20:24] fire hydrants that are in service or out
[1:20:26] of service.
[1:20:27] >> So, some of it may come from the town
[1:20:29] directly. Some of it comes from maybe an
[1:20:31] annual report or some other
[1:20:33] documentation we receive during the
[1:20:35] audit. If there's specific numbers, we
[1:20:37] can get to, you know, you where they
[1:20:39] came from, but they come from different
[1:20:42] sources depending on what it is.
[1:20:46] >> Okay. Um All right. I think that
[1:20:48] >> miles of public road looks like it
[1:20:50] stayed the same,
[1:20:51] >> right? Well, that's good. But you never
[1:20:53] we sometimes do get some new streets
[1:20:55] once in a while. Um Okay. Uh I think
[1:20:57] that answers my questions for now. I I
[1:20:59] may follow up with Mike after. Thank
[1:21:01] you.
[1:21:03] >> Thank you, President.
[1:21:04] >> Any councelor rounds?
[1:21:06] >> I I just want to There's a lot of great
[1:21:08] information here and thank you for your
[1:21:10] presentation this evening, the concise
[1:21:13] um overview. I just want to make sure
[1:21:15] that we will have opportunities to
[1:21:17] address them for questions when we have
[1:21:20] more time to be able to read through.
[1:21:22] >> Absolutely. Yes. if if you wouldn't mind
[1:21:25] um
[1:21:27] uh if we had questions following this
[1:21:30] meeting if we could follow up with you.
[1:21:32] >> Absolutely. We are always available.
[1:21:33] Yes.
[1:21:33] >> I know you've always been helpful in the
[1:21:35] various places I've interacted with you
[1:21:37] guys before. So, um I appreciate that.
[1:21:41] >> Thank you.
[1:21:41] counselor.
[1:21:43] >> Um I just want to point to a couple of
[1:21:46] things. You mentioned a $10 million
[1:21:48] revenue surplus or in excess of forecast
[1:21:52] revenues that represents about a 6%
[1:21:56] um over predicted. Is that in line with
[1:22:00] where you would want things to be? I
[1:22:03] know that um we have to be conservative.
[1:22:07] Uh but were we too conservative? Were we
[1:22:10] just right conservative? Uh where are we
[1:22:12] in comparison with other towns and as
[1:22:14] far as a revenue surplus?
[1:22:16] >> Sure. Um, well, for motor vehicle, you
[1:22:19] want to be conservative, right? Because
[1:22:20] we just don't know, right? There's no
[1:22:21] sort of guarantee there. If you're
[1:22:23] conservative in your revenue budgets and
[1:22:25] you get you take in more than you
[1:22:27] planned, it drops to free cash. You can
[1:22:29] appropriate that and you can use it. If
[1:22:31] you go the other way and you're not
[1:22:32] conservative enough, you don't you have
[1:22:34] a deficit, you're going to have to raise
[1:22:36] that the next year. So, we like to see
[1:22:38] conservative
[1:22:40] Oh, yep. Sure. Um, I'll just repeat that
[1:22:42] quickly. If you're conservative and you
[1:22:45] have a revenue surplus, it drops to free
[1:22:47] cash and you can appropriate that money.
[1:22:49] If you are not conservative enough and
[1:22:51] you have a revenue deficit, you are
[1:22:52] required to raise that in the next
[1:22:54] fiscal year. So, it would impact future
[1:22:56] fiscal years. So, we do want to see
[1:22:58] conservative um real estate really you
[1:23:01] are budgeting for that that you're going
[1:23:03] to collect 100%. That is just timing.
[1:23:06] So, if real estate if you saw a deficit
[1:23:09] there, you're going to get your money
[1:23:10] for real estate. you're gonna, you know,
[1:23:12] you have means to be able to collect
[1:23:13] that. So, we really want to see
[1:23:15] conservativeness in um investment
[1:23:18] earnings because that can go up or down
[1:23:20] depending on how much cash you have,
[1:23:21] depending on the markets and and so
[1:23:23] forth. U motor vehicle, I mentioned you
[1:23:26] want to be conservative, permits, things
[1:23:27] like that. So, there's nothing there
[1:23:30] that looked out of line. I think
[1:23:31] investment earnings have been very very
[1:23:33] strong. Motor vehicle collections have
[1:23:35] continued to be very, very strong. So,
[1:23:37] we are seeing surpluses in most
[1:23:38] communities.
[1:23:40] >> Thank you. Thank you. The other thing I
[1:23:41] wanted to point out, you mentioned $2.5
[1:23:43] million in operational surplus, which
[1:23:46] represents about a 1.4%
[1:23:49] operational surplus over what was
[1:23:50] budgeted. Um, I always, you know, when I
[1:23:54] was a town administrator, I would always
[1:23:56] try to look for free cash to be
[1:23:59] generated from revenue surplus as well
[1:24:02] as operational surplus. And I'd try to
[1:24:04] get to a a 5050 situation. Here, we're
[1:24:08] not getting that. And I think it's
[1:24:10] because we budget we're budgeting tight.
[1:24:12] But um is this 1.4 operational
[1:24:16] percent operational surplus in line with
[1:24:19] what you're seeing with other
[1:24:20] communities?
[1:24:22] >> I'll answer that. There's differences.
[1:24:24] Some communities are very very tight
[1:24:26] budgets and you have almost nothing
[1:24:27] turned back. Those departments needed
[1:24:29] that much money to run the operations.
[1:24:33] You'll they use it sort of as a means to
[1:24:35] generate free cash. they expect to turn
[1:24:38] back money
[1:24:40] education you don't really see much turn
[1:24:41] back in education um but it's this money
[1:24:46] generally comes from the town side
[1:24:49] because the schools need to keep it or
[1:24:53] we'll find something to do within that
[1:24:55] fiscal year so that they don't
[1:24:57] generational circle that's fine but but
[1:25:01] um you know I I I think that this shows
[1:25:05] that there's good management here of on
[1:25:07] the operational side.
[1:25:09] >> We want to make sure that you're that
[1:25:10] you have controls in place that you're
[1:25:12] not overspending. That what you voted
[1:25:14] for the budget is what's in your general
[1:25:16] ledger and that there is a way to
[1:25:17] prevent people from overspending at the
[1:25:19] end of the year. You know what happens
[1:25:20] at the end of the fiscal year. It can
[1:25:22] get very very tight. You may have to
[1:25:24] make some adjustments and transfers. We check to make sure that you're voting
[1:25:28] everything. What was voted is in the
[1:25:30] reports and you're not overspending. But
[1:25:32] as far as the right amount of money to
[1:25:34] turn back, it's varies from community to
[1:25:36] community.
[1:25:38] >> My last thing is a a little bit of an
[1:25:41] opportunity for you guys to basically describe all the work you
[1:25:47] do a little bit more than you do. We
[1:25:49] come in, you know, we we see you for
[1:25:52] this half an hour. Um what's behind this
[1:25:56] half an hour? How how often are you here
[1:25:59] when you're doing the audit? How many
[1:26:00] personnel are here? How many how many
[1:26:02] weeks are involved in that?
[1:26:03] >> I will say that's all her that's all
[1:26:05] her.
[1:26:06] >> Yeah, [laughter]
[1:26:06] >> my job is to review and to sign. So,
[1:26:08] Roina is going to give you the details
[1:26:09] on that.
[1:26:09] >> So, usually when we're here for our
[1:26:12] planning, it's a week that we have
[1:26:13] scheduled. Um that's just to be like
[1:26:16] working here whether we're here for
[1:26:19] three or four days or just a couple of
[1:26:20] days. Um before we even come out, we
[1:26:24] have planning that we need to do. We
[1:26:27] complete on our end. Um we start to work
[1:26:30] on our risk assessment. Um we start to
[1:26:33] look at what what single audits need to
[1:26:35] be audited and uh have there have been
[1:26:38] any changes in personnel. Are there any
[1:26:40] changes in the processes? Then we come
[1:26:42] in and we start planning. So we start
[1:26:45] doing our testing. We start saying what
[1:26:47] can we look at now? Like Renee had said,
[1:26:48] we look at your budget. That's one thing
[1:26:50] we can do prior to the year end because
[1:26:53] you voted it a year before. So we can
[1:26:56] look at it. We can see where it's at. We
[1:26:58] can look to see are there any lines that
[1:27:00] right now look, you know, like they're
[1:27:02] going to be overexpended. You have a
[1:27:04] wonderful finance team. They take care
[1:27:06] of it all. It's that's not, you know, a
[1:27:08] question. But when we're going through,
[1:27:11] we just need to do our due diligence,
[1:27:12] right? We are opining on this. We have
[1:27:14] to have a sense of comfort. We're not
[1:27:16] testing 100% of transactions. We're
[1:27:18] looking at the risks. So when we're here
[1:27:20] in the spring, it's usually starting our
[1:27:22] transaction testing, looking at journal
[1:27:24] entries, looking at the detailed general
[1:27:26] ledger, asking questions. Are you
[1:27:28] reconciled with cash? Did you reconcile
[1:27:30] it yesterday because you knew we were
[1:27:32] coming out or have you been reconciling
[1:27:34] it on a monthly basis? So these are the
[1:27:36] things that help us plan our plan the
[1:27:38] audit.
[1:27:40] Then after when the town's close to
[1:27:42] closing, which is typically October, we
[1:27:44] come back out and that's when we take
[1:27:46] the deep dive, roll up our sleeves,
[1:27:47] start looking at the support, start
[1:27:49] looking at the trial balance. What what
[1:27:51] are these numbers? Are we getting the
[1:27:54] proper support? We're looking at the
[1:27:55] detailed general ledger. Are there any
[1:27:57] journal entries that were recorded to
[1:27:59] balance, to reconcile, to fix, to
[1:28:02] correct? Um, we have a separate data
[1:28:05] service center that runs reports,
[1:28:07] analytical reports for us that helps us
[1:28:09] to identify those. We're, like I said,
[1:28:12] we're we're making selections that are
[1:28:15] unpredictability
[1:28:16] so that way there's surprises in what
[1:28:18] we're selecting. But when we're out
[1:28:20] here, we spend quite a bit of time.
[1:28:22] We're we're sifting through bank
[1:28:23] statements. We're sifting through
[1:28:25] transactions. Um, we're we're looking at
[1:28:28] the census data testing that came from
[1:28:30] the actuary and testing those files to
[1:28:32] make sure that that information has been
[1:28:35] accurately reported. Uh, we're visiting
[1:28:37] the retirement system to to put together
[1:28:40] that report. So, we're testing the
[1:28:41] census data there. We're testing against
[1:28:43] the fair value of investments. We're
[1:28:45] sending confirmations. So, there is a
[1:28:48] lot that goes into these numbers. Can
[1:28:50] tell you we know them inside out and
[1:28:52] backwards by the time we're done. And we
[1:28:54] have a very very good comfort level when
[1:28:57] we put together this report. Any
[1:28:59] questions that we have, Mike, Mark,
[1:29:02] Christina, they've been great. We ask
[1:29:04] for something, they get it to us right
[1:29:06] away. I mean, you do have a very strong,
[1:29:08] wonderful finance team here. Um, and
[1:29:11] then after we leave the field, we're
[1:29:12] just compiling. So, sometimes we're
[1:29:14] waiting for some information, whether it
[1:29:16] be an OPED valuation or just some odds
[1:29:18] and ends. And that's when we're while
[1:29:21] we're here, we're putting together this
[1:29:22] report. But then at the end we're
[1:29:25] looking at analytics. What were the
[1:29:27] expectations? What did we think was
[1:29:30] going to happen during our planning and
[1:29:32] did that happen? Were there any
[1:29:34] surprises? Um we send legal confirms.
[1:29:37] Last year we learned about the legal se
[1:29:39] settlement from Mike which had to go
[1:29:40] into the FY24 financial statements
[1:29:42] because it happened in September. Um so
[1:29:45] that's kind of what we do in the in on
[1:29:48] the side. We're testing single audit and
[1:29:50] we're, you know, so there's a lot that
[1:29:51] goes into it. Even if you only see us
[1:29:53] here a few weeks out of the year,
[1:29:55] there's always someone working, someone
[1:29:58] getting this closer to being issued.
[1:30:00] >> Thank you for for taking the time to
[1:30:02] explain that. I think it's important for
[1:30:04] the public to know
[1:30:06] um that this is not prefuncter what you
[1:30:10] do that this is a deep dive and a very
[1:30:14] analytical
[1:30:16] um review of of the town's financial
[1:30:20] systems and its performance.
[1:30:23] And that should be reassuring to the
[1:30:25] public because you are independent. You
[1:30:28] uh you know you are not employees of the
[1:30:31] town of Bantry. you're looking
[1:30:33] independently and your professional
[1:30:35] reputation and uh is tied to what you
[1:30:40] report. So you would jeopardize your
[1:30:42] career if you've sugarcoated anything in
[1:30:45] here. Um and this is just one part. Then
[1:30:50] there's a department of revenue who
[1:30:51] looks at what we do as well. And then
[1:30:54] there are the internal controls that we
[1:30:56] put on ourselves.
[1:30:58] So it's important. I I think I really
[1:31:01] appreciate you taking the time to just give everyone an idea of of the
[1:31:07] thoroughess of of your review. I
[1:31:09] appreciate it. Are there any other
[1:31:11] questions from the council? Well, thank
[1:31:14] you very much for your report. I'm sure
[1:31:16] that there will be followup. Um and
[1:31:18] thank you for for the concise way in
[1:31:21] which you explained it.
[1:31:22] >> Of course. Thank you very much.
[1:31:24] Appreciate it.
[1:31:24] >> Thank you.
[1:31:29] Okay,
[1:31:31] I believe we are now moving to new
[1:31:34] business.
[1:31:35] Um,
[1:31:38] there's a call, there's a placeholder
[1:31:41] for October 6, 2026. No action required
[1:31:44] this evening. [snorts] Um, are we
[1:31:47] referring these to committees or we're
[1:31:49] just
[1:31:50] >> reading them in?
[1:31:50] >> Just to let you just to let you know,
[1:31:52] it'll be voted next meeting.
[1:31:54] >> So, we'll have a call to the election at our next meeting. Uh, our next
[1:31:59] meeting is scheduled um for Tuesday,
[1:32:02] October 6, 2026 at 7:30 p.m. Thank you
[1:32:07] to Bcam for televising tonight. Bill
[1:32:09] Nem, Jerry Kak, and Dave Maybrook. Uh,
[1:32:12] at this point, I will entertain a motion
[1:32:14] to adjurnn.
[1:32:15] >> Motion to adjurnn.
[1:32:16] >> Second.
[1:32:17] >> Motion's been made and seconded. All
[1:32:18] those in favor? I,
[1:32:20] >> it's a unanimous good night.