[0:00] at that point in time.
>> What I Let's see.
[0:08] Are you still seeing the spreadsheet or
are you seeing one note right now?
[0:11] » I'm seeing the spreadsheet.
>> Okay. Let me um Yeah, because I just I'm
[0:16] going back to last week.
[0:21] So,
[0:25] so not including
um so what Ruth has on here is 54,550
[0:33] in capital projects
for
[0:36] » and that's going to be more if we when
we talk about that you know the the well
[0:41] and the septic came in higher than the
15,000 that was was budgeted for that.
[0:46] » Right. Okay. Okay. So, that was my
question. That wasn't included in there.
[0:49] So, right now, um, so if not including
the well and septic and if we if we
[0:57] spent the 41720
and the upcoming 54550 on capital
[1:03] projects, that leaves a balance of
174,979.
[1:09] » Yep.
[1:13] » Okay.
That doesn't include any reimbursement
[1:17] from the um the rescue funds that come
in.
[1:24] » And what was that last year that was on
that sheet?
[1:27] » Uh it was only about 32,000 last year,
but I think it's going to be more this
[1:30] year because um we had some some issue
with Medicare and and so we should be
[1:37] getting some back payments this year.
Well, that'll uh that'll pay for a well
[1:42] and septic
>> 32 well. Yeah.
[1:45] » Yeah.
>> Okay. Um All right. So, you guys okay
[1:49] leaving that 41720 coming from from
Capitol right now for that ambulance
[1:54] bond?
[1:57] Hearing no objection. I'll assume so for
now. Um
[2:02] we Ruth, would we need to vote to change
our recommendation on that because we're
[2:06] changing how it's funded?
Um, so
[2:14] » yeah,
>> I think we would.
[2:16] » Yeah, I'm going to mark it. Whoops,
wrong one.
[2:28] » Okay.
Um,
[2:32] » and then I also, so under the 2018 road
bond, um, I had taken 50,000 out of the
[2:38] undesated fund to cover some of that
>> and and I don't know, it might be
[2:45] » everybody okay with that?
[2:52] » Yeah, we can always come back, you know,
sometimes after we and revisit something
[2:57] if if uh something changes as we go.
Um, okay. Um, Eureka Center. So, Mark
[3:05] brought this one up. Um, this is
>> that was just an example, but
[3:09] » Yeah. Yeah. So,
>> I looked at the budget that we went
[3:11] through and I don't really see anything
that we could take out there. So,
[3:15] » okay,
>> I'm going through the individual sheets
[3:17] here on my computer.
>> Okay, great.
[3:20] » This is the fire department budget. This
is um
[3:26] I think we heard from Ruth uh and we
should probably in fairness to the chief
[3:32] we I think we should if if we wanted to
make a change here we should probably
[3:35] talk about that next week when he's
here. Um
[3:39] did we lose Rich?
>> Did we
[3:53] You know, Rich, are you there?
>> Yes.
[3:56] » Oh, he is. Okay, good. All right.
Um, my camera screen gets wiggy when I'm
[4:03] sharing. That's why I couldn't see
everybody. So, okay. Uh, general
[4:07] assistance. I think that is what it is.
um
[4:13] planning board and appeals, they um
they took a a significant decrease
[4:21] versus last year's budget, but it's
still
[4:24] uh increased versus LY.
Now, there was um
[4:31] there was money in here
for marijuana ordinance work, right? And
[4:37] we're we're taking that or at least
that's what we haven't voted on yet, but
[4:40] that's we we the discussion last week
was we were only going to put um budget,
[4:46] you know, in the business articles um on
the warrant. Um
[4:52] » we had 7500 for projects. I'm not sure
what that that was in the budget. Was
[4:57] that was that is that what that was? I
think I think that's that was the intent
[5:00] of that was to um pay someone um to help
us with the uh writing marijuana
[5:08] ordinances. But it feels like even if we
um I don't know what do people think
[5:14] about that. I mean, of course,
because we could conceivably put the,
[5:19] you know, depending on what happened, we
could conceivably put the marijuana
[5:22] ordinance questions on the ballot in
November, but we probably still wouldn't
[5:27] be spending that money in 2020.
>> Well, now I'm looking at that. Their
[5:32] budget request was 466 and we cut it to
35. And I think we may have already
[5:39] taken that out.
>> Did we already take it? Yeah,
[5:41] » I think so.
>> Okay.
[5:43] So, they've already spent uh $2,762
of that money.
[5:50] » Oh. Oh. Oh, yeah. They've had to hire
some um some environmental consultants
[5:55] on um resource protection lands. Um
yeah. All right.
[6:02] I'm thinking we leave that one alone for
now. Any any
[6:08] again we can come back to it.
This is public works. So, this is the
[6:13] scenario with that we kind of just
talked through with Calvin with doing a
[6:18] reduced um reduced maintenance paving.
Um we would we would definitely have to
[6:25] revote on that one.
Um
[6:33] conservation, parks, and wreck.
Um, that's all that's all funded from
[6:39] undesated. But I think somebody raised I
don't know if it was you, Ruth, but if
[6:45] there's not going to be a softball and
baseball season this year, do we
[6:51] um what do we do 1500 to each
organization or something like that?
[6:56] » Uh, I think so. Yeah.
>> Yeah. I don't I I might be premature on
[7:01] the softball. I can't speak for
baseball, but I think softball has
[7:04] intentions in playing this year.
>> Yeah.
[7:10] And again, that money um that that comes
from recreational fees. Um
[7:17] » so it's funded with undesated. So taking
the money out and taking money out isn't
[7:21] going to impact this year's taxes at
all.
[7:26] Um,
>> so it looks like it was 2500 to each
[7:30] organization.
>> 2500 to each. Okay.
[7:34] » Why?
>> Okay. Yeah. No, that's what it looked
[7:38] like. It was So I I guess Little League
had the 1500 and Durham softball had the
[7:43] 3,000. And then so this year Little
League asked for 2500 and Durham
[7:48] softball asked for 3,000. And so what
you guys did is you
[7:51] » Yeah.
>> Both of the 2500. We gave them both the
[7:54] same. Yeah.
[8:02] Um,
okay. I'm just going to keep going
[8:05] unless somebody stops me. Solid waste.
Ruth, where does does this number change
[8:11] with the discussion we had with them
last week?
[8:15] » Well, it it depends. So, you could put
the ballot question on it and and you
[8:21] probably should if you want to do the
three-year contract with them. Um, and
[8:24] so if we do that, then we would accept
their their bid prices. And so that
[8:28] would be the same.
>> That that would be my sense is that we
[8:32] keep going with that plan because like
you said, there's no I know the question
[8:36] came up during um meetings and um uh and
oh, by the way, Milt, if if you're
[8:43] raising I can't see if anybody raises
their hand right now. So, if somebody's
[8:46] got something to say, they got to speak
up. So, um the uh um there's no benefit
[8:53] to going to a one year or a two-year or
three-year
[8:57] contract because of the way it's
structured to fluctuate with the price
[9:01] of of um recycled materials. So, I know
that was one of the questions that we
[9:07] thought, you know, that there might be
something to that. Well, what if
[9:10] recycling prices go down? Um the
contract accounts for that. Um
[9:19] okay.
Uh telecommunications.
[9:25] This is again this is all money from
franchise fees. Um
[9:31] and basically spending those
um
[9:36] the raise pool.
So again here you can see it's it's
[9:41] right now coming out of um undesated
um
[9:48] but again it's what do people think? Do
we want to keep that number at
[9:54] um
regardless we're going to we'd be voting
[9:58] on changing it? Um we want to keep that
2% or do we want or are people thinking
[10:04] wage freeze for the year?
You know where I'm at.
[10:10] » Yep.
>> Yeah. I'm thinking wage freeze.
[10:13] Unfortunately,
>> I would agree.
[10:18] » Hey, if we go with zero, does it remove
the question from the ballot?
[10:24] Um if yeah, if we're not recommending
if we're not proposing a spending
[10:30] amount, then yeah, that there's no um
the question doesn't go out.
[10:36] Yeah. I mean, I I guess my thought is
I'd
[10:41] I'd at least like to see the town's
people vote on it. I think, you know,
[10:44] it's up to them if they don't want to
give raises out.
[10:48] » Well, yeah, I I hear that.
>> I mean, I get it's up to us, but I think
[10:53] that they should be the ones to decide
in this case. I wouldn't want to remove
[10:58] it off the ballot totally off the
warrant,
[11:02] but that's my opinion.
[11:08] question.
>> I'm not saying I'm opposed to a wage.
[11:12] » Yeah, Milt Milt's trying to say
something here.
[11:15] » Well, I just want to with regards to I
mean, I'm just How many questions will
[11:19] appear on this
voting warrant?
[11:25] » Um, Ruth, do you have a do you have a
count, Ruth?
[11:28] » I I have a count of about 30.
>> 30? Yeah.
[11:32] » Yeah.
>> Yeah. down.
[11:34] » For some reason, I was I I had the
impression that maybe you were going to
[11:37] try to
>> um condense it so there'd be fewer.
[11:42] » Well, we can um so so the way that I had
written it so far um and obviously it
[11:50] can change. There are separate questions
for two capital um issues which are the
[11:55] the fire department capital well and and
septic and the other stuff that the
[11:59] capital is going to pay for. There's a
question about the fire the plow truck.
[12:05] Um and then there's you know the big
budgets are separate the administrative
[12:10] the um fire department the public works.
Um I left what else did I leave
[12:16] separate? I may have left animal control
separate and then I had combined a bunch
[12:20] of them into one question. But what
takes up a lot of it is actually the
[12:24] business questions.
Um, you know, if we wanted to, we could
[12:29] absolutely condense the questions
further. Um, but I don't I don't know
[12:34] whether you want the the residents to
vote on a one lump sum budget or whether
[12:41] you want them to have a better idea of
where the funds are going.
[12:46] » It it feels like we should in terms of
the questions we ask them that that we
[12:53] should keep it as normal as possible. Um
>> because
[13:01] I don't know. I mean
>> town meetings.
[13:05] » Sorry. Go ahead Todd. Yep.
>> As much like town meeting as it could be
[13:10] possible.
>> And in you know ironically the business
[13:14] articles which I those you know that
kind of flurry that comes at the end the
[13:18] last several years there's been a motion
to consider them all together and vote
[13:22] on them all in one thing. But I don't
know if we can I don't know if we can
[13:26] actually do that on a uh
>> I asked the answer was was no.
[13:31] » Yeah, that's what I figured. Yeah. So
>> yeah, with 30 questions I think we're
[13:36] going to need to provide table and
chairs.
[13:39] » Well well mil the uh there it's likely
this won't involve a polling place at
[13:46] all. It's likely to be um all absentee.
But if we do have a um polling place
[13:52] then you're right. I think we will need
to provide um seating for people. I
[13:57] think I think that I think you're
absolutely right.
[14:00] » A quick question on the um on the fire
department well and septic. If we posed
[14:06] that question, my guess is we would
already have spent the money before it
[14:10] is posed to um to the to the to the
citizens. What happens if they reject
[14:18] it? Well, that the plan is not to uh is
not to put those questions on the ballot
[14:24] once.
>> Okay, I understood Ruth then. I
[14:27] apologize.
>> Yeah, we don't we don't um capital
[14:30] expenditures um
really except for bonds and stuff. Um
[14:37] don't don't don't have to have a warrant
article once because the town has voted
[14:42] » to put the money in capital for that
purpose. Listen, as long as you're using
[14:46] it for that purpose, then then you
you've already been approved by voters.
[14:51] So,
>> yeah, my fault. I I misunderstood what
[14:54] Ruth said.
>> No, Rich, you didn't misunderstand, but
[14:57] we can take them off the ballot if you
want to.
[15:00] » Well, that's on the draft.
>> Why would Why would that specifically be
[15:03] on the ballot?
>> What's the question again, Rich? Sorry.
[15:08] » Why that would specifically be on the
draft ballot if if we're going to pay
[15:12] for something before they have the
chance to vote for it? Yeah, I think I
[15:15] think right and I think um it's been
custom to oftentimes ask for um you know
[15:23] to put some of these capital
expenditures out to vote you know on big
[15:27] things like trucks especially.
>> Sure. you know, um, but in this in this
[15:31] case, I think, you know, with a well and
septic, which is a borderline urgent
[15:35] situation and the money's in the capital
account and needs to be done, like you
[15:40] said before, people would actually
probably get the chance to vote on it
[15:43] anyway, that, um, it would be part of
it. No.
[15:48] Um,
[15:53] so is there is there a motion on Well,
wait. Actually, we'll go back and um do
[15:59] you want me to It sounds like there's
right now we're at um
[16:04] moving that to zero and moving that to
zero.
[16:10] Um but again, it's not going to change
anything at the bottom line. So
[16:15] um funds for town manager search. So, um
I think we we said at our last meeting
[16:24] that I that that we were wanted to take,
you know, this question and the
[16:29] marijuana and the ordinance stuff, you
know, off at least this secret ballot
[16:34] and then um potentially
um
[16:40] try to work through some of those things
maybe in November if we had the
[16:45] opportunity to put um some of those
things on the ballot. But but um are
[16:50] people still feeling that they don't
want to put the town manager question
[16:55] out this year or how what are people
thinking about that?
[17:02] » I don't think we need to do it this
year.
[17:06] » Yeah. Leave it on.
>> I I think there's I need to do it. With
[17:11] that said, because of the time frame
that when this is going to take place, I
[17:16] I I think the ship's kind of sailed by
that time. So, it'd be probably best in
[17:20] our best interest to put it towards next
year.
[17:23] » Yeah, I I I would agree. I think it's um
the timing and the timing is just not
[17:28] right and I'm not sure we'd even be able
to get the resources to do a search and
[17:32] who even knows what the process would be
like. So,
[17:36] » um I agree.
>> How will we even do it?
[17:40] » Exact. Yeah. Well, so um
[17:50] um and I had already zeroed the funds
for severance because because of the
[17:55] timing that was never going to be paid
in 2020 anyway. And really the the way
[18:00] for us to address this as a board is um
via a severance policy um to be adopted.
[18:08] We we should adopt a policy that kind of
guides us and how what the town's um
[18:14] position is when you know if we run into
a situation where there's a separation
[18:20] um because of an organizational
structural change or something like that
[18:24] through no fault of the uh employee but
that'll be a separate discussion for um
[18:30] for later. So,
uh, transfer emergency fund. Um, again,
[18:37] this one was being funded from
undesated. Um,
[18:41] I would personally like to leave this
one in. Um, because again, there's no
[18:45] impact to the tax rate this year. All it
simply does is make another $10,000 more
[18:52] accessible via the emergency fund should
something come up. So if we if we need
[18:58] to spend emergency fund money, it has to
be approved by the budget committee and
[19:02] the selectman um in order to spend it.
But if if there's if there's no funds in
[19:08] this account, which I think I think
there's less than 10,000 in it now,
[19:13] » um then we we couldn't we wouldn't have
it to spend. we would literally have to
[19:19] go call a special town meeting to um to
get undesated funds to cover whatever
[19:26] the emergency was that we were talking
about. So, um my feeling is to leave
[19:31] this one on on there.
[19:35] My recommendation
>> Go ahead, Mil. What do you got? Yeah,
[19:40] just um if you do leave it on, if if one
of you could participate in our budget
[19:47] committee meeting next week to give, you
know, your point of view because the the
[19:52] the when the budget committee last met,
there was there was there were questions
[19:56] that were left unanswered, which is why
the budget committee voted against this
[20:01] line. So, I think it would help if if
they heard it from, you know, one of you
[20:06] why it's, you know, why we would benefit
from it.
[20:10] » I'm checking my calendar now. When are
you meeting?
[20:12] » The 11th, I believe. Is that right,
Ruth?
[20:18] » Yeah, this Monday.
>> Yeah, I can probably do that, Mel.
[20:22] » Okay. I mean, yeah, and you know, I'd be
welcome to be there, too. But I think
[20:26] just being in the situation that we're
all currently in and just I think
[20:31] there's time to recognize that that that
needs to be funded and have funds
[20:35] available. Um, if if now's not a good
indication of why, then I don't know
[20:41] what would spark someone's interest into
ever participating in it.
[20:44] » Yeah. And again, it's just a shifting of
money. It's taking money that's not
[20:48] » not liquid and making it more liquid for
us if we need it really is what it is.
[20:54] » It from
>> from undesated.
[20:57] » Okay. Yeah. All right. I was going to
suggest that.
[21:00] » Yeah, that that's the plan. Yep.
>> Okay.
[21:03] » Um
Okay. And so that takes us through uh
[21:09] the operational stuff.
Um
[21:13] any and then in capital
the only thing because this is there's
[21:18] some difference between selectment and
budget committee. So budget committee
[21:21] will have to have their own discussions
but right now we were um spending uh
[21:29] 54,550
[21:32] uh for fire capital and that was all
coming out of uh fire department capital
[21:36] reserves and um 188,600
uh for a plow truck and that was also
[21:45] all coming out of public works reserves.
So cutting anything here is like some of
[21:53] the other stuff we've talked about um is
not going to impact this year's um tax
[21:59] rate.
So
[22:02] » So Kevin, if you're not going to put the
capital expenses for the fire department
[22:06] on the warrant, then you know, you don't
really have to vote on them. At least
[22:10] not tonight.
>> Well, I was just Well, I think
[22:16] Yeah, actually we can cut we can
And I actually expect
[22:21] » we can take get a few we can get a few
questions off the warrant by
[22:24] » Right.
[22:28] » Yep. Um
I don't know how do people feel. How do
[22:33] people feel about that?
basically not putting basically just um
[22:40] well but if we don't if if we well
what if
[22:47] and now I'm I'm I might go back on
myself here but how do we then deal with
[22:52] um
showing a selectman in a budget
[22:56] committee recommendation?
>> Well, if your recommendation is zero,
[23:02] then you don't have to put it on the
>> right. No, I get that. But here our
[23:06] recommendation isn't zero. It's 54,550.
>> You could just take it off the budget. I
[23:13] mean, it would be included.
>> That's true. We We only have to provide
[23:19] a
It's only if it's on the warrant.
[23:24] » Right.
>> Right.
[23:26] Yeah.
>> This is money we've partially already
[23:28] spent. Right.
>> Most of it. Yeah.
[23:31] » Screw.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
[23:36] » Yeah. All right.
[23:40] I
>> mean, it's out of capital, so
[23:42] » Yeah. Do people feel the same way about
the truck?
[23:46] » Nope.
>> I didn't think so.
[23:49] » I think that should be on the ballot. I
think we'll get
[23:55] up against
>> Yeah, I definitely think it should be on
[23:57] the ballot.
>> Yeah. Yeah.
[24:01] But I I think the um
Ruth, you had an opinion and and I don't
[24:08] know if Calvin is is still here, but
that that was a pretty amazing price and
[24:13] that um unlike feeling was unlikely to
get that price next year or who knows
[24:20] could be better if things go really in
the crapper. But
[24:23] » yeah, you don't really know.
>> I think I think there is a good chance
[24:26] he might be better. I mean, they're
pretty aggressive right now on vehicles.
[24:30] Yeah. Also, we spent a lot of money on
the two older trucks that we've only got
[24:36] a couple years out of a lot of money
spent on them.
[24:40] » Yeah. But I I I hear that. But at that
kind of a
[24:46] how money spent on two other trucks
doesn't really
[24:50] » Oh, I know.
>> play into whether a third truck is
[24:53] reached the end of its life or not,
>> right?
[24:55] » Yeah. I have no problem putting the
truck on the ballot, just to to clarify.
[24:59] I just don't feel comfortable spending
that amount of money in capital if we
[25:03] had the the right to do so as a board
without the people's
[25:06] » Yeah. No, on this one I I would agree. I
I wouldn't I wouldn't buy a truck
[25:10] without putting it before the town.
>> Yeah.
[25:12] » If it was an e situation where something
was expired like the breathing apparatus
[25:17] that the fire department needed, I can
at least kind of make a rational
[25:20] argument with that, an easy argument
with that of why we had to do so. Can't
[25:24] do that with this truck.
>> Yep.
[25:26] » Yeah. I say leave it on.
>> Okay. So leave it on. Leave our
[25:30] recommendation as is.
>> I would. Yes. Be my vote.
[25:34] » All right. So
then going down through this, we didn't
[25:40] really
we didn't really change anything that
[25:43] hadn't already been done like that that
affected the tax rate. I mean, we pulled
[25:47] out the town manager fund um and
severance had already been pulled out.
[25:53] We pulled out the um assessing capital.
Was that being raised? No. Uh, yeah, it
[26:00] was being raised.
>> That was gonna be raised.
[26:02] » Yeah. Um, so that one actually Well, if
it's going to be zero, we don't have to
[26:08] we don't need to vote to we haven't
voted to put the article on the warrant
[26:12] yet. So, we don't have to vote to take
it off. So,
[26:15] » right.
>> Um,
[26:17] » maybe we see what the budget committee
comes up with.
[26:22] » Not if we're not going to put it on.
That's our decision that we put on.
[26:25] » That's right. That's right.
Um.
[26:30] Uh. Okay. So,
>> so what did was how much do we take off
[26:37] that was coming out of undesated funds
that we eliminated?
[26:40] » Oh, geez. That was um
let's see. Um well, from our original
[26:47] recommendation,
>> um 80 8,600 there.
[26:53] » Uh 8,000 there.
So that So that's 166.
[27:02] I think that was it.
>> That was it.
[27:06] » I'm looking.
>> Yeah, that was And
[27:12] um
>> so where does this get us next impact?
[27:16] » Yeah. Uh so net if we go to the bottom
line, net impact is
[27:21] » on the municipal. Yeah. because we
didn't, like I said, everything we
[27:25] changed was und designated fund stuff,
so it didn't impact me. But it has us,
[27:30] it we're bringing a municipal budget
>> that's 2% less than last year.
[27:35] » Yeah.
>> Um, school right now is estimated at
[27:37] 1.7, but like I said, I think that might
come down.
[27:41] » Um, county is county. Uh, overlay is
that's a pretty small overlay. Um and
[27:48] then which gives us this 0.5% total. But
like I said, if I think the school
[27:55] reduction alone may get us um to flat at
for a total rate, but uh if the um town
[28:05] assessed total assessed value that we
base taxes off, you know, goes up, it it
[28:12] only had it's literally it's it's a
percentage percentage thing the way the
[28:15] math works. So if valuation goes up 0.5%
then this will go down 0.5% and we'll be
[28:24] at flat. So I'm I'm pretty confident
that this these numbers right here are
[28:30] going to have us um
>> much flat
[28:33] » flat and probably actually down a little
bit.
[28:39] » Would you agree with that Ruth? You
>> I got my fingers crossed.
[28:44] » Yeah. I mean it does depend on the
valuation. um and what the school does.
[28:48] » Yeah, I think the valuation will go up.
I don't know what percentage. Um and the
[28:52] other thing too is is um people who have
a homestead exemption will see a bigger
[28:56] exemption this year. Um although it
won't be the full 25% because we're at
[29:00] 87 25,000 because we're at 87%. Um it'll
still be more than last year. So if they
[29:06] have the That's right.
>> their tax bill will actually go down
[29:10] simply because of the homestead
exemption.
[29:11] » Yep. Yep. So
>> hey Kevin. Yeah.
[29:16] » Um that doesn't mean if we're we're
holding the rate at zero, but that
[29:20] doesn't mean the tax bill will be no
increase, right? Because if the even if
[29:25] if we hold the rate, but valuation goes
up, they'd still do see a slight
[29:29] increase in their taxes.
>> No. No. So the to the towns Well, if
[29:32] their individual valuation went up, yes.
But the town valuation that I'm talking
[29:37] about that comes from the state, that's
a different that's a different deal.
[29:41] That that often goes up where the and
then that's the issue why we need a
[29:46] reassessment. That's that total number
has been going up what the state
[29:51] estimates the total value of the
property is and the um but our
[29:56] individual assessments have not been
keeping up with that. So, um,
[30:02] » okay.
>> Unless unless somebody's individual
[30:05] property gets a different assessed
value, um, then if if the tax rate was
[30:11] the same, they'd have the same tax bill.
>> Okay. Thank you.
[30:15] » And no whispering on the set, Rich.
>> My wife's upset because my kids were
[30:22] home all day, obviously, and they
drained her computer dead, and this is
[30:25] her office, and she had to get her cord.
Ah.
[30:31] All right.
[30:35] » Uh, hey Ruth, is there any concerns on
the revenue side?
[30:40] » That's a great question.
>> So,
[30:45] so the way that the town of Durham does
our our budget is we balance base it off
[30:51] of last year's uh revenue.
So, take excise tax. We have about
[30:56] $950,000 worth of excise tax last year.
So that's what we put toward this year's
[31:02] budget. So when we come to the end of
the year, depending on what the excise
[31:06] tax collected this year is, there would
either be a surplus to the undesated
[31:10] fund or a negative to the un designated
fund. So say we come to December, we've
[31:16] collected $900,000 worth of revenue for
excise tax. That would mean that our
[31:21] undesated fund would take a hit of
$50,000. So, I had sent you guys um some
[31:28] dire predictions
and I did try and make them pretty
[31:34] pretty um you know, sad um hoping that
that they would be happier when we get
[31:41] the actual figures. Um but yeah, so so
our undesated fund would take will take
[31:48] a hit in December depending on what the
revenue ends up being this year. And um
[31:53] I think I know both Ruth and I have been
sitting in on a lot of um Greater
[31:58] Portland Council of Government and MMA
meetings with other you know managers
[32:03] and uh chairs and mayors and things of
that sort talking about a lot of these
[32:07] issues. And at least right now, the
state is holding firm saying that in
[32:14] 2020, what what they've estimated that
school districts and towns will get in
[32:20] terms of school aid and local revenue
sharing um is um is holding that they're
[32:29] that that's going to come in. Um the the
other big theme we talk about is like
[32:34] the big challenges and the big pain is
probably next year's budget. Um because
[32:40] that's when we're going to see um the
impacts of real revenue decreases. And
[32:47] um it's also one of the reasons why I
don't want to um I don't want to go too
[32:54] far
uh cutting this year because if we cut
[33:00] too much this year, we know that we just
know because of the challenges coming
[33:05] next year, it would just the
year-over-year increase would be that
[33:09] much more magnified. Um it would be like
um be a real shocker I think to people
[33:15] because I think um I think next year is
going to be a very challenging budget
[33:21] year because of the revenue side
[33:26] » okay thanks
[33:30] » any other questions
[33:36] so um
our board members is
[33:41] uh comfortable with amending our
um
[33:46] uh budget recommendation to align with
this scenario that we've just been going
[33:50] through.
If if so, we can go back to the handful
[33:55] of items that we need to take votes on
to adjust our recommendation. Um if not,
[33:59] we can uh keep talking.
[34:04] Is there anybody that's not comfortable
with this at this point?
[34:12] Okay, then I'm gonna
>> Okay, I'm going to zip down through and
[34:15] we're going to uh take votes to uh
adjust our recommendations
[34:20] um and then we'll um kind of have that
on the record for um for the budget
[34:25] committee when they meet uh next week.
So, I'm going to move that
[34:31] we adjust our um budget recommendation
for administration
[34:38] to
uh $390,544
[34:44] with 106,347
[34:48] uh transferred and $284,187
[34:54] raised.
[34:57] Second.
>> Rob seconds. Any discussion?
[35:02] And we got to do the roll call votes.
So, we got we got a handful of these.
[35:07] So, if you're in favor of that, say yes.
If not, say no. Rich,
[35:12] » yes.
>> Rob,
[35:14] » yes.
>> Todd,
[35:16] » yes.
>> Mark,
[35:18] » yes.
>> And I'm a yes.
[35:21] Okay. Um,
I'm going to move that we alter our
[35:27] recommendation for the payment of the
ambulance bond and that we transfer
[35:32] $41,720
and raise zero.
[35:38] Is there a second to that?
>> I'll second it.
[35:41] » Todd seconds. Any discussion?
All right. If you're in favor, yes. Uh,
[35:49] » Rich,
>> yes. Rob,
[35:52] » yes.
>> Todd,
[35:54] » yes.
>> Mark,
[35:57] » yes.
>> And I'm a yes.
[36:04] I'm going to move that we change our
recommendation for uh payment on the
[36:10] 2018 road bond uh for the the same
amount but that we uh transfer $50,000
[36:18] and raise 197,460.
[36:26] » I'll second it.
>> Todd seconds. Any discussion?
[36:31] In favor, say yes. Rich,
>> yes.
[36:34] » Rob,
>> yes.
[36:36] » Todd,
>> yes.
[36:38] » Mark,
>> yes.
[36:41] » And myself, I'm a yes.
[36:45] I'm going to move that we reduce our
recommendation on the public works
[36:52] budget to 1,38,693.
[36:58] with 1,6763
[37:03] uh transferred and $31,930
raised.
[37:12] » Second.
>> Rob seconds. Any discussion?
[37:18] If in favor say yes. Rich,
>> yes.
[37:21] » Rob,
>> yes.
[37:24] » Todd,
>> yes.
[37:26] Mark.
>> Yes.
[37:28] » And I'm a yes.
[37:32] Okay.
[37:36] Um I'm going to move that we uh change
the selection's recommendation for the
[37:41] raise pool um to zero.
[37:49] » Second. Is
>> there a second? Rich. Second. Second.
[37:52] Yes. Um okay.
If you're in favor, say yes.
[37:58] » Rich,
>> yes.
[38:00] » Yes.
>> Rob, no.
[38:04] Todd,
>> yes.
[38:07] » Mark,
>> yes.
[38:10] » And Kevin is a yes.
So, four to one on that one.
[38:16] But we will is we will um Is there
anybody opposed to still putting that
[38:21] question on the warrant?
Although, you know what, Rob? If if it's
[38:26] a secret, well, I guess the
>> if it's zero, then they can only vote it
[38:30] up or down. They can't change it,
>> right? And if it's Yeah. There's no
[38:33] amendment. It's not like a normal town
meeting where somebody could amend it
[38:36] from the floor.
[38:41] » That's why I want to make sure we get it
on the ballot.
[38:47] » So, I'm confused. But but but
if they vote it well I guess if I guess
[38:53] if the budget committee had a different
recommendation
[38:57] they could because what they're going to
have is they're going to be able to
[39:01] choose um between the selectman or the
budget committee recommendation.
[39:05] Um it's unclear what happens if there's
if we have to put like none of the above
[39:10] or something like that on there. What
happens? Um
[39:12] » I'm confused as to how the budget
committee would have a recommendation if
[39:15] we're not putting that on the ballot for
making it zero. What are they
[39:19] recommending on?
>> Yeah, I think normally we wouldn't. Um,
[39:25] you know, Rob expressed an interest in
having the question go before the town,
[39:30] which in a normal town meeting year, I
guess I would get, but if it's a secret
[39:34] ballot, then there's no opportunity to
amend it, like, you know, have a
[39:40] discussion on the floor and somebody,
you know, raise it, you know, to 8,600
[39:44] or whatever.
[39:51] We can come back to that. We don't have
to decide tonight whether that um goes
[39:55] on the ballot. We can think about that
one some more
[40:00] because even if the
um even if the budget committee for the
[40:04] sake of argument came back and they
wanted to fund the 2% say if the board
[40:11] was at zero
that we can still we still don't have to
[40:16] put the question out there um because we
are in effect not it's not a money
[40:21] spending article at that point because
we're not proposing any money be spent.
[40:26] Right. I guess you could could you could
you word it as in terms of the um
[40:32] you you pose the question the do you
recommend do you um
[40:38] would you like the um to have a raise
pool of up to 3% and the selectman's uh
[40:45] recommendation is no. Is that
>> Yeah, I think we could do something. I
[40:49] was just thinking I think we could do
something. I don't think we're limited
[40:53] to um number of choices. Like for
instance, we could say we could put the
[40:59] question on there uh to see what some
the town wants to you know raise for
[41:05] raise pool. Um
A could be selectman recommends zero. B
[41:11] could be budget committee recommends
zero.
[41:15] C could be 2% which equals $8,600.
and D could be, you know, something
[41:22] else. I think we could do a multiple
choice um question like that. Would you
[41:29] agree with that, Ruth, based on what
you've learned so far?
[41:32] » Uh it's not the suggestion of MMA. So
MMA's suggestion is that um it's a
[41:38] closedended article so that
>> Oh, okay.
[41:41] » Uh so it's a yes or no, basically. But
>> how do you do a closedended article with
[41:45] a selectman and a budget committee's
recommendation? Well, I'm still working
[41:49] on that.
>> Okay.
[41:52] » So, there are some towns uh that do, you
know, put down the as as the options,
[41:59] the selectman's recommendation, the
budget committee recommendation, and
[42:02] then basically none of the above. There
has to be an option on the ballot that
[42:06] that to vote it down, unfortunately.
>> Yeah. So we we need to find out what
[42:12] happens if they do vote it down because
does that mean
[42:16] » well
>> oh we talked about the article about
[42:18] putting at the beginning like to revert
to Ly right
[42:21] » and and there's no guarantee that would
pass either but
[42:24] » I know right okay
>> you would need to take another vote to
[42:27] get a um like if the school budgets
voted down they would have to to go back
[42:32] and another vote.
>> Oh that'll be fun. Okay.
[42:39] All right. All right. So, we can come
back to whether um like I said, we don't
[42:41] have to decide tonight. So, we've
already here and
[42:46] um
this one
[42:50] I think we just take this one off the
town manager search.
[42:54] » Is that people good with that one?
>> Taking it off. Yes.
[42:59] » The budget committee recommended zero on
this one anyway. So, um I think we don't
[43:05] put we don't have this we're not putting
the town manager question on the ballot.
[43:08] So, we don't need this, you know, on the
on the article. So, I don't and I don't
[43:13] think we need to vote to take it off
because we never voted to put it on. So,
[43:18] okay. So, I think that I think that
takes care of the necessary votes that
[43:22] we
>> actually the only change, Kevin, is the
[43:24] the truck is a lower amount because uh
it came
[43:28] » Oh, yes. Thank you. Yeah. Okay. Um, so
I'm going to move we change our
[43:33] recommendation on the um,
uh, public works capital expense to
[43:40] $188,600
[43:43] um, to be all be uh, transferred from
public works capital.
[43:50] There a second on that.
>> Second.
[43:55] » Okay, Rob. Second. Um, any discussion?
[44:02] So if you if if just so for procedure,
if you were thinking that
[44:09] voting this down would bring it to zero,
that's not what would happen. It would
[44:14] actually leave it at 216202.
If you
[44:20] » are thinking you want to recommend zero,
then we would that would have to be a
[44:25] separate motion and we would vote on
that. So the the motion right now is to
[44:30] change the recommendation from 216202
to 188600, but the board would still be
[44:39] um recommending the purchase of the
truck. Okay.
[44:46] Any other discussion or questions on
that?
[44:50] Okay. So, if you're in favor of changing
the truck recommendation from 216202 to
[44:58] 188600,
uh, say yes. Rich,
[45:05] » um, could just for clarific,
[45:15] » right? So, my my only question is, is
that is that wise to do? Should we leave
[45:19] a little cushion in there like 192 or is
this okay to roll with that?
[45:27] » Last year, uh, the only thing that
we ended up having to spend extra on is
[45:33] getting the truck lettered town of
Durham and that was an extra cost was
[45:37] under $1,000,000
that wouldn't hurt my feelings.
[45:42] » That could just come out of regular
budget though, right?
[45:45] » Right. Right. Right.
>> Yeah.
[45:48] I'm in favor. Yes.
>> Because this this is a contracted price,
[45:51] right, Calvin? If approved at town
meeting.
[45:56] » Yes. Uh what I would have is
>> That wasn't a resounding yet.
[46:00] » That wasn't a very good yet.
>> The only hesitation I have is I think I
[46:05] think that those bids are good for a
certain amount of time and we haven't.
[46:11] So, I'm wondering if that was only good
for 30 days and where we didn't accept
[46:14] it, I suppose someone could could could
back out on the deal. I mean, I don't
[46:18] know how that I'm not I've never had
this happen, so I'm not sure. Any
[46:22] suggestion, Rob?
>> Well, get something in writing from them
[46:26] that says they'll hold their bid until a
referendum in July.
[46:31] » Okay.
>> And if that's the number, then that's
[46:34] what we'll use.
>> Yeah. Okay.
[46:36] » I I would think for um for tonight, I
would think we could still
[46:41] change our recommendation
um and and basically get that task done.
[46:47] And if for some reason something
changes, we can always vote to change
[46:51] our recommendation again.
>> Good.
[46:57] Any other discussions or questions?
Okay. So, if you're in favor of changing
[47:02] the recommendation to uh the 188600
number, uh say yes. If you're not, say
[47:08] no.
>> Rich? Yes,
[47:11] » Rob.
>> Yes,
[47:13] » Todd.
>> Yes,
[47:16] » Mark.
>> Yes.
[47:18] » And I am also a yes. Okay.
[47:23] Anything else, Ruth?
On on this subject?
[47:29] » Not that I can think of. So I if you
look at the draft warrant um what I did
[47:35] is I I uh
because it's quite confusing in the way
[47:39] we do it with the transfer and the
appropriations and everything. I I left
[47:43] everything raise and appropriate and at
the very end uh there's a warrant
[47:47] article and many towns do this that
actually just um transfers a certain
[47:52] number of dollars from the uh revenue
fund.
[47:58] » Yeah, I saw some articles like that too.
It just it's kind of uh
[48:02] » they don't worry about it article by
article. They just do like a lump sum
[48:09] » and and that's really it. It's
>> like
[48:13] » it's the same end result. But
>> yeah, I I hope it doesn't confuse people
[48:18] too much, but um doing it the other way
would be very confusing. The only thing
[48:22] with that though is that we've kind of
trained people if they see raise that
[48:28] means tax money. Whereas if they see
transfer they say okay that's not coming
[48:34] out of taxes. So I I don't know. I again
I hesitate to change things up too much
[48:40] when we're um when we're having such a
big change in
[48:45] format and process.
>> I can I can try and write it the other
[48:49] direction. Um, and we'll we'll look at
it both ways. Okay, you
[48:53] » guys. That's good.
>> Okay, I think that takes care of um 5C,
[49:02] discussion of the budget to be presented
at town meeting. So, um,
[49:08] next is 5D, a discussion of the tax
anticipation note. I'm going to stop
[49:13] sharing this screen here.
[49:19] Okay. And at least I'm back to regular
view now. All right. Ruth, what what
[49:24] would you brief us on with the regard to
the tan?
[49:29] » So, um I think we can wait till next
week to take a vote on it. Uh the reason
[49:33] I did up two new cash forecasts, well
not two but a new cash forecast for it
[49:38] was to show you the difference uh in the
tan uh if we commit taxes the end of
[49:44] July or if for some reason and I don't
know what the reason would be we had to
[49:48] commit taxes later in the year. So the
tan just goes up.
[49:54] » So I guess
>> I'm sorry. Oh, July Oh, July versus
[49:58] October commitment. Okay, I got you.
Yeah.
[50:01] Hey, I don't know if I asked this
before. If I did, I apologize, but why
[50:05] is the outflow number in August double
what it is in the other months?
[50:11] » Uh, that's the month that we pay our uh
county tax.
[50:16] » Okay, there you go.
>> I went I went in and I'm like,
[50:24] » "All right. Is there any any possibility
of talking to the county about their
[50:29] attacks?
Um, doubtful.
[50:34] » Yeah.
>> Well,
[50:36] » nominate you for that committee. They
asked for somebody to participate.
[50:38] » They're looking for somebody. They're
still looking for somebody to be on that
[50:41] budget committee.
>> I vote zero.
[50:45] » You're the man for the job, Todd.
[50:50] So, okay. So, um,
yeah. And that's hopefully by next uh
[50:55] week again, we'll have a more we'll be
able to I'm hoping next week if we have
[50:58] firm direction from the governor, we'll
be able to actually set dates of um
[51:04] meetings and votes and such. So,
okay, we are on to uh department um
[51:14] uh department head reports. The fire
chief is not here tonight. So, Calvin,
[51:18] you're up.
>> Okay, that's about all I've got. So,
[51:23] Great report.
>> Good.
[51:26] » Fair enough.
>> Yeah. Um, so everything's going fine so
[51:31] far with what the state's doing with
Route 9. No issues there so far.
[51:34] » Yep. Been down, checked on that. It all
It's all going as planned.
[51:39] » Okay.
>> Very good. We've got some potholes that
[51:43] we keep reporting to do that some people
have been complaining about on Route 9
[51:47] at Cerosis Corner and a couple other
places and we keep calling them and we
[51:52] get no response. I don't know whether to
just go do it myself or I mean I don't
[51:56] know if I want to start that
>> I don't know if that's a
[52:00] » I wouldn't establish that precedent.
>> I know that's I wouldn't do that either.
[52:04] » That one rose corner it's getting bad.
>> Yeah. It just makes us look bad when it
[52:10] doesn't happen because it looks like
we're not doing it. They most people
[52:12] don't realize the DOT does one thing and
we do another. So, I'll have to put
[52:16] something out there.
>> What's the Do we have that speed
[52:21] enforcement sign yet?
>> We do and we're working on that. Uh um I
[52:28] don't know if we we'll be getting that
out hopefully completed for giving an
[52:32] update on that to the next meeting, but
we have it and we've we've had to go buy
[52:36] a small trailer and retrofit it to meet
what we're going to do. So
[52:40] » Okay.
[52:43] » All right. Great. Thank you,
Ruth. Town administrator report.
[52:49] » Uh
we've we've been through everything. Um
[52:53] the only thing I I just wanted to talk
about was uh you know the town office is
[52:57] looking at the possibility of of um
opening uh for appointment only. Um I
[53:03] don't know whether it'll be next week or
the week after. It depends on when we
[53:06] get um everything uh in place and and
that will be for uh necessary um or what
[53:14] people want to be necessary uh
transactions and also for the higher
[53:20] risk uh population who may wish to come
into the office uh when there's not a
[53:25] line. Um, and then right around June
1st, which is this the the date that
[53:31] most of the other town offices are are
beginning to open completely, we'll have
[53:36] protocol in place um for uh social
distancing and uh and we will have to
[53:42] reopen the office.
[53:48] » I don't know. I I don't understand why
we need to wait so long.
[53:51] » I don't either. Um, we
why like on the soft opening,
[53:58] why wouldn't we like have a sign on the
door says that limits, you know, two
[54:03] people at a time in the lobby and put
some cones or something outside for six
[54:09] foot distancing for the line um and um
just let people queue up.
[54:17] » There's there's a couple of issues. Um,
you know, one is that that Becky didn't
[54:21] get a ton of counterwork yet. Um, and so
Pam's going to be helping her a lot. And
[54:27] so it would be very difficult to have
two windows going right away. I could
[54:32] help, but that would mean that I would
spend most of my day at the window with
[54:36] Becky making sure that that everything
went fine.
[54:38] » Okay, that's legit. Then just do one one
customer at a time. one. Yeah. One open.
[54:43] » And people can queue up outside and then
people
[54:47] uh can make when people drive by and
they see the line, they can make their
[54:50] own decision on whether they want to
wait in that line or not.
[54:53] » Yeah.
>> Yeah. I would agree. But the only thing
[54:55] I would add maybe have them exit out the
back door.
[54:59] » You go through the front and you go out
the back and then that way nobody's ever
[55:03] crossed
>> through the AV room.
[55:05] » Through the AV room.
>> Looking at the other direction, but uh
[55:08] we're we're still working that out.
coming in the back door and going out
[55:11] the front door. And that being because
then um we don't need somebody to direct
[55:17] traffic out of the front door because
you can see when you come in the back
[55:20] door where the mana man's bathroom is,
you'd be able to see the windows and
[55:24] still be a sixoot distance and then you
>> and then you'd have people conjugating
[55:28] in the back room.
>> Not conjugating. They would be lined up
[55:32] like the the Hannerford lines.
>> Why wouldn't you just keep the majority
[55:37] of them outside and have them exit out
the back? I don't I don't get that at
[55:40] all.
>> Yeah, I kind
[55:41] » because you'd need somebody out front
directing traffic and allowing people in
[55:45] when there was
>> I don't think so. Not just one person
[55:49] only,
>> right? And why do why would you need
[55:51] that in the front but not in the back?
>> I think you need it more in the back.
[55:55] » I would I do too
>> because from the back you can see the
[55:59] people standing at the windows. So you
know when those people
[56:03] » only if you're in the building, but you
can keep everybody out of the building
[56:06] and they can see through the front door
if you do it from the front door.
[56:10] » Yeah. The next step would be in the c in
the uh al cove, right?
[56:16] » No, just Yeah, you can have one person
in the alco, but there's only one person
[56:19] allowed at the town office at the
windows. And then once they're done,
[56:22] they'll exit and the next person can
walk in.
[56:24] » I would Yeah, I would keep them back.
Actually, I would keep them out of the
[56:26] alcohol because then you've got two
people that have to get pretty close to
[56:29] each other to
>> Yeah. No, not in the al cove.
[56:31] » So, I think you you draw your line, you
know, you know, back like if you're
[56:36] doing a straight shot right out the the
doors straight ahead, your your first
[56:41] person in line is probably to the left,
just to the left of that as you're
[56:46] coming out. And you there's a line there
and don't cross that line until it's
[56:50] your time to go in. And then that gives
plenty of space for the person exiting
[56:54] to get out. And you just do one at a
time. Oh, to go out the same door.
[57:00] » You could go.
>> That's what I mean. Go in and out the
[57:02] same door in the front and just set it
up so that that's
[57:06] » out the back door.
>> Well, that Well, I mean, we could do
[57:08] that, too. But, um, you could you could
still do that.
[57:14] » Yeah.
>> I didn't know there was back door.
[57:16] » Yeah, Rob's got his Rob's got his hand
up. Sorry.
[57:19] » Yeah. Sorry. I just like we're trying to
solve this uh complex problem here, but
[57:25] is it really that big a deal like to
open next week versus just wait till
[57:30] June 1st and when the when there's
further restrictions limited and I mean
[57:35] is there a big public outcry to open
town office? We don't have to register
[57:39] anything still
>> and we won't have any support from the
[57:42] state because the state's still not
working.
[57:46] » Yeah. So why not just wait till June 1st
and then we'll solve all these issues
[57:50] then?
>> I don't know. All I hear I I hear I keep
[57:55] hearing anecdotally like the phone's
ringing off the hook. We have so many
[57:58] people calling you. So I think I think
there is
[58:02] » but all of those those people we can
take care of over the phone,
[58:05] » right? It's just direction as to how to
do this or how to do that or you know
[58:12] that the governor has has allowed people
to drive their vehicles without plates
[58:17] or on temp plates for 30 days after the
emergencies lifted. So there's no
[58:22] emergency for everybody to come in um
from May 15th until June 15th. And what
[58:28] we're trying to eliminate is the rush on
town hall. I don't want to have these
[58:31] huge lines where everybody's waiting to
get in and everybody's frustrated
[58:35] because there's this huge line.
>> You're still going to You don't think
[58:39] you're still going to have that June
1st?
[58:42] » June 1st, we're still going to have all
the social distancing things. You're
[58:44] still going to have to have all the
precautions in the in the lobby that
[58:48] we're talking about now. People will
probably still have to wear masks. So,
[58:53] that that that aspect of it is not going
to change June 1. But if we take the
[58:58] most complicated
uh transactions as appointment only then
[59:03] we can control things a little better
and that would hopefully alleviate the
[59:08] the the most complicated and time
consuming um transactions are new
[59:13] registrations.
>> Yep.
[59:15] » And so if we took them by appointment
only and we got rid of a number of them
[59:20] before the June 1 opening then that
would decrease our lines. And then also,
[59:25] you know, with the trash tags, we're
we're looking towards probably setting
[59:29] up somebody outside at least for the
first couple days.
[59:32] » Well, that was part of my thing with
the, you know, with the 30 minute
[59:35] appointment windows, like there's a lot
of things people do that don't take
[59:38] anywhere near 30 minutes. So, in terms
of the, you know, your productivity and
[59:42] the number of people that you could
conceivably help, it's re you're really
[59:46] limiting yourself if you go to, you
know, 30 minute uh intervals.
[59:54] I think that's more to to give everybody
a time to do the most complicated
[1:00:02] transactions so that people don't back
up on each other.
[1:00:17] » Todd, did you have something?
Well, I mean, is this something that we
[1:00:23] have to vote on?
>> Well,
[1:00:27] depends on what you want to do. I mean,
you can vote on it and decide what to do
[1:00:31] or you can leave it up to me.
>> Well, I I think it's six and one half
[1:00:35] dozen of the other. I mean, I I don't
you're not going to resolve the problem
[1:00:40] on I if if people feel comfortable
enough. I mean, this is working in
[1:00:44] supermarkets where there are much higher
risk. This is working in restaurants.
[1:00:48] This is why is the town hall so
different? If the argument is because we
[1:00:52] need to get training for an individual,
that's fine. We'll limit our we'll limit
[1:00:56] it to that one person at a time so we
can you know make sure she's properly
[1:01:00] trained and also obviously limit the
exposure inside at one particular time.
[1:01:05] But it I don't understand why we would
wait till June 1st. I I just
[1:01:12] » I think we should go to May 11th.
I would I would even I would throw out I
[1:01:16] would even be okay if
you went to um if you're worried about
[1:01:23] being overwhelmed.
Uh I would be okay with not not having
[1:01:29] all of the hours that the office is open
be accessible to the public. Like maybe
[1:01:34] you start off with say, you know, we're
um the town office will be open to the
[1:01:40] public from, I don't know, 10 to 2, you
know, or whatever or or noon to 4 or or
[1:01:46] whatever, you know, just as a, you know,
as a kind of ramping up strategy. So it
[1:01:52] would still give you some time to kind
of um caught up on other stuff.
[1:01:57] » That's a good point.
[1:02:01] » Um
I don't know. What do you think? Well,
[1:02:03] so we are meeting again on Tuesday,
which is the 12th. Um,
[1:02:10] » Mill has his hand up, too.
>> Oh, sorry. Yeah, Mill, sorry. Go ahead.
[1:02:15] » My two sense I mean, if if they're only
allowing one person into the office at a
[1:02:19] time, I I I don't understand why the
women behind the window will feel
[1:02:26] overwhelmed. I mean, yes. I mean, one
transaction might take 20, 25 minutes.
[1:02:30] And people who are outside standing in
line can choose whether or not they want
[1:02:34] to remain in line. Um, you know, other
transactions will only take maybe 15
[1:02:39] minutes. And but the the people at the
window won't be overwhelmed because it's
[1:02:43] only going to be one customer at a time,
right? I think the I think where I was
[1:02:47] coming from with that, what was in my
head was that the um the line might
[1:02:52] never stop like that. It might just, you
know, in a normal course of business
[1:02:55] when you've got a couple of windows open
and um you're in normal periods, you
[1:03:01] have gaps during the day where there's
nobody at the window. But I think at
[1:03:05] least for a time when we first open,
there's likely to be a lot of people
[1:03:09] coming in for a lot of different
reasons. And it might just be a constant
[1:03:13] line all day. And if with it with one
window open um it might make it tough
[1:03:19] for them to get some of the other work
they need to get done done. So
[1:03:23] » yeah that that makes sense to me. I also
think you know whenever you that that
[1:03:28] office I think that they're going to
face that scenario whatever the date is
[1:03:33] when the office opens.
>> I agree which is why I agree why I think
[1:03:37] it's good to open earlier and start
working through some of that pent up
[1:03:40] demand. Yep.
>> Or we just open two days a week out of
[1:03:45] the four that were open,
>> you know.
[1:03:48] » Yeah, that's another option.
>> You know, just a Monday and a and a a
[1:03:51] Friday or something just so people can
get some maybe not Friday because that
[1:03:54] tends to be a busier day. Maybe a Monday
and a Thursday just to give some people,
[1:03:59] you know, I I just had a text yesterday
and I can I'll be more than happy to
[1:04:02] share it with anybody on the phone
asking when the town office is going to
[1:04:05] open.
>> Yeah. Um
[1:04:07] » so I do think there are people looking
for the town office to open.
[1:04:11] Yep, I agree.
[1:04:18] So, um I don't know where what do we
think next steps are. Do we need maybe
[1:04:24] like does Ruth come back to us with an
amended plan um on a for our meeting on
[1:04:29] Tuesday with and that we want the plan
to be um well, if we meet on Tuesday, we
[1:04:35] could say, you know, doesn't have to
start on a Monday. we could put out
[1:04:39] there, you know, for a really soft
opening, say communicated as best we can
[1:04:43] that, you know, town office will open
for limited hours starting, you know, on
[1:04:48] on Thursday
of next week.
[1:04:56] I think we can say now that we could
start on May 11th.
[1:05:00] As long as we get everything in place,
[1:05:06] » we'll have everything in place. So that
would be that would be Monday. So we
[1:05:09] wouldn't meet again before that. We
would just
[1:05:11] » have Ruth come up with a plan to um open
responsibly on May 11th.
[1:05:15] » Yeah.
[1:05:20] » Monday's May 11th,
>> I think. Calendar in front of me.
[1:05:23] » Yeah, because that's the day the budget
committee is meeting, right? Yeah.
[1:05:26] » Well, why don't why don't we have a
meeting on Tuesday and have a plan to
[1:05:30] reopen on the 14th? That way we can have
a discussion on it before we do do that.
[1:05:34] » Yeah, that's what I was suggesting, too.
was it?
[1:05:38] » Sorry if I missed that.
>> I just don't know what's going to
[1:05:40] change.
>> Well, I think it's it's it's a matter of
[1:05:45] of Ruth being able to go back to the
staff and say, "Okay, this is the goal.
[1:05:49] We need to" and we've talked about
various ways it could happen. um uh to
[1:05:55] send it back to them and say, "Okay, we
want to we want a plan that uh opens
[1:06:00] town office at least for, you know, at
least for starting half days um on
[1:06:06] Thursday the 14th." Um and see what that
looks like.
[1:06:15] Other thoughts on that?
[1:06:22] No.
>> Ruth, do you feel you could get started
[1:06:24] on the 11th?
>> Um, I I wouldn't mind a couple extra
[1:06:30] days to make sure we have everything
um you know, all the signs and
[1:06:35] everything up.
[1:06:40] » Yeah, because there's nobody in the
office tomorrow, right? So,
[1:06:43] » no, we're not in the office tomorrow.
[1:06:50] What I mean what signs do we have to
have other than one person in at a time
[1:06:53] and putting some cones out that we
already have a sign up says mask on if
[1:06:56] you're in the office
[1:07:01] » just going through the checklist again
and making sure that we have everything
[1:07:04] in order. I mean we were only planning
on doing it for by appointment only. So,
[1:07:09] um, you know, we're going to have to go
back and
[1:07:13] just make a plan, make sure that we go
through the checklist that the governor
[1:07:16] has.
[1:07:20] Is there is there anything we've we've
talked about here that you are concerned
[1:07:25] violates or or goes against what the
that checklist is?
[1:07:32] » No.
>> Okay.
[1:07:43] So, where are we? Do we need to have a a
a vote to reopen the town office on on
[1:07:51] Monday to the public?
[1:07:57] » I move we uh I put it there.
I I move we uh open the town office May
[1:08:04] 11th
um with with Ruth doing her best with
[1:08:10] her
working with the state
[1:08:16] recommendations.
Um are you are you moving for um full
[1:08:21] operational hours or are you um moving
for uh continued uh limited hours?
[1:08:30] » Uh limited hours maybe two days a week
>> the starting point
[1:08:37] and go to go to a full week on the 18th.
[1:08:46] » Is there a second to that?
[1:08:51] I'll second it for discussion. I think
we already had a lot of discussion, but
[1:08:55] I'll second it. Yeah,
I think I'm gonna vote no on this simply
[1:09:01] because um I I would like to give them
the opportunity to um go back and have
[1:09:10] the rest of this week to okay to
actually, you know, lay out what they
[1:09:15] want their plan to be, bring it to us on
Tuesday, and we can approve or
[1:09:20] disapprove it and um open on Thursday
And if we were going to do limited time
[1:09:27] anyway, we we're really not
we're really not costing ourselves any
[1:09:32] time. But it I think it it's a little
bit more of a deliberative process than
[1:09:36] just saying, "Hey, okay, we want the
office open. Figure it out."
[1:09:43] So that's that's I'll be voting though
on this one.
[1:09:50] » Any other discussion?
>> Would you just out of curiosity is that
[1:09:54] a is
Are you voting I understand you're
[1:09:57] voting no, but um is there a chance that
maybe it sounds like you're willing to
[1:10:02] amend Todd's because Todd wasn't really
necessarily setting a specific.
[1:10:06] » You just said limited hours. I didn't
know if you were amending Todd's or if
[1:10:11] that was possible.
>> No, I wasn't amending but you know I was
[1:10:14] just going to I was going to do a
separate motion um okay afterwards.
[1:10:22] » Any other discussion?
Well, I will withdraw mine.
[1:10:26] » Okay,
>> let's get on with it.
[1:10:28] » Okay,
>> we've talked about it.
[1:10:32] » All right, I'm going to move that um
that the board um
[1:10:38] have Ruth bring a uh opening plan to the
board at our next meeting on uh May 12th
[1:10:46] uh with the goal of
opening the town office at least for
[1:10:50] limited hours by Thursday, May 14th.
I'll second that.
[1:10:57] » Any further discussion?
>> All right. If you're in favor, say yes.
[1:11:03] If not, say no. Rich,
>> yes.
[1:11:07] » Rob,
>> no.
[1:11:10] » Todd,
>> yes.
[1:11:12] » Mark,
>> yes.
[1:11:14] » And I'm a yes. So, four to one on that
one. Okay.
[1:11:20] All right. So, Ruth, I think that was
that was all you had uh that we hadn't
[1:11:24] already talked about was the reopening
uh plan.
[1:11:27] » That's fine. Yeah.
>> Well, I thought that's what you said. If
[1:11:30] you have something else, that's fine.
>> No, no, no. I think that's enough.
[1:11:34] » Okay.
All right. Uh I'm going to uh move we
[1:11:40] accept the consent agenda as presented.
It only has the minutes for last week on
[1:11:44] it.
[1:11:48] » Second.
I any Oh, we don't have discussion on
[1:11:52] that. Um,
if you're in favor, say yes. Rich,
[1:11:56] » yes.
>> Rob,
[1:12:01] » yes.
>> Todd,
[1:12:04] » yes.
>> Mark,
[1:12:06] » yes.
>> And I'm a yes. Okay.
[1:12:09] Okay. Okay. So, our next meeting, uh,
regular meet is, uh, Tuesday, May 12th
[1:12:14] at 6:30, uh, p.m., uh, same format,
Zoom. Oh, Milt's got something you want
[1:12:21] to say, Mel. Milt.
>> Yes, thank you. Just a couple of
[1:12:24] questions. Um, either to you or to Ruth.
Um, just in case I'm asked this at next
[1:12:30] week's meeting. So the way the questions
will appear on the secret ballot
[1:12:36] so it could so the the question will be
asked and then it'll be selectman's
[1:12:42] recommendation
is so and so budget committee's
[1:12:46] recommendation is so and so should we
have different different recommendations
[1:12:51] will there always be a third option
meeting neither or just the two options
[1:12:58] » I believe it's required that you have a
neither Yeah, we don't know for sure
[1:13:02] yet, Mill. We're still actually
investigating um and trying to find out
[1:13:06] for sure how those questions have to be
um structured. So, we don't know with
[1:13:11] certainty yet. Along that same line, if
the budget committee and the selectman's
[1:13:17] recommendation are both the same, will
there be a second?
[1:13:24] Do they then the the the the vote is
whether to to approve or or not to
[1:13:29] approve the recommendation. Is that
correct? If I've understood what Ruth
[1:13:33] said is is right, if that proves correct
that even if the selectman and budget
[1:13:38] committee agree,
there's still some other option where
[1:13:42] they could just say no or none of the
above. Um but what we're what we plan to
[1:13:47] do if that's the case is put an article
um early in the warrant that would
[1:13:54] basically say something like you know uh
are you in favor in the event that uh on
[1:14:00] a budget article um neither the
selectman or the budget committee's
[1:14:05] recommendation
uh passes that the budget for that
[1:14:11] article will revert to last year's
figure. you know, something like that.
[1:14:15] Um, and if they say yes, then that kind
of covers us. If they say no to that and
[1:14:21] then say no to a particular article,
then uh, as I understand it, we would
[1:14:28] actually have to go through a
rebudgeting process for that article and
[1:14:33] put it out to vote again. So,
>> okay, that well explained. I hope I can
[1:14:39] do just as well.
>> Okay,
[1:14:41] » last question to Ruth. Are you going to
be sending out an invite and be hosting
[1:14:46] the budget committee's meeting next
Monday?
[1:14:48] » Yeah. Uh Thursday, I'll send out an
invite and I'll I'll host it and I'll
[1:14:52] also send out um the information or a
number of the information that I sent to
[1:14:56] the board. So you guys will have um a
spreadsheet to work with and see what
[1:15:00] the board recommended.
>> That would be very helpful. And um do do
[1:15:06] we need to know in advance that we have
a quorum or like any meeting we six will
[1:15:12] come along and if there's five people
there we're good to go and if there's
[1:15:15] not why not.
>> I think it's like any other meeting.
[1:15:19] » Yep. That's that's exactly it. Yeah.
Yeah. Either
[1:15:22] » there's a quorum or there's not. You
still hold the meeting meeting.
[1:15:26] » All right.
>> Oh, we still hold the meeting even if
[1:15:28] there's not a quorum.
>> Well, you hold the meeting. You just
[1:15:32] can't do anything. you might immediately
adjourn,
[1:15:34] » right? Yeah.
>> Because you can't because you can't vote
[1:15:37] on anything. Might be a short one. Um
but yeah, you technically call the
[1:15:41] meeting to order and recognize that you
don't have a quorum. And you can still
[1:15:47] have discussions without a quorum. You
just can't vote on anything.
[1:15:50] » Is it possible, Ruth, that when you send
out the invite that you could request
[1:15:55] that people reply whether or not they'll
be participating?
[1:15:59] » Sure.
>> Thank you. And it might it might be
[1:16:02] worth calling out too for those um
members that um may have think thought
[1:16:07] that their term expired that that to let
them know that under the state of
[1:16:12] emergency that their terms are still in
progress.
[1:16:16] » It still stuck with us.
>> That's a that's a valid point, Kevin. So
[1:16:21] Ruth, if you could uh you know, if
there's a way to word put that wording
[1:16:26] in your email, I think that would be
helpful. I think I think there's
[1:16:30] probably at least a couple of members
who, you know, mentally have tuned out
[1:16:33] of their participation in the budget
committee.
[1:16:37] » Yeah.
>> Okay,
[1:16:40] » Rich.
>> Um, just real quick, and I apologize. I
[1:16:43] didn't see it. Um, and it just as I was
scrolling through my text and talking
[1:16:47] about the town office, um, I sent an
email asking for a quick discussion, and
[1:16:52] I mean really quick, in regards to
softball. Um, and I guess I'd wrap it up
[1:16:56] or to keep it brief, I would just say,
is the town going to impose any further
[1:17:00] sanctions on the public that the above
and beyond what the governor has already
[1:17:06] imposed? And I asked that simply because
softball, if given the chance by the
[1:17:11] governor and the state, they would
eventually like to you to utilize the
[1:17:16] field that they lease from us to hold
some softball games, but they wanted to
[1:17:21] make sure that it was um kosher with the
town before even committing to anything
[1:17:26] like that, irregardless of what the
governor said.
[1:17:30] » Yeah. I um any thoughts for members on
on Rich's question?
[1:17:37] I don't think we po impose any other
restrictions.
[1:17:40] » Yeah, I wouldn't restrictive enough.
>> Yeah.
[1:17:43] » Yeah, that was my thought too, but I
just wanted to get the boards.
[1:17:47] » But that actually I'm glad you brought
that up because when you when you shared
[1:17:50] that uh text I um it also triggered my a
question for Calvin. Calvin, are we
[1:17:57] still locking the outhouse at Runaround
Pond?
[1:18:00] » Yes.
>> I think I think we need to consider
[1:18:03] opening that back up.
Okay.
[1:18:06] » And um what I mean that's just my
opinion. I mean because we are at the
[1:18:10] » people are you know using that facility
more and more you know and as the
[1:18:15] weather gets nicer and um I think when
we shut it down before we were it was
[1:18:21] largely because people were stealing the
toilet paper. Um and so I think you know
[1:18:25] we're somewhat past that. So um my
feeling is we should open that back up
[1:18:30] again.
>> I would agree.
[1:18:34] Yeah. Yeah.
>> Can you go ahead and and take the lock
[1:18:38] off that, please, Calvin, and just go do
what you did last year as far as
[1:18:42] maintenance and whatever and
>> Yep.
[1:18:44] » Um Okay.
>> Thanks.
[1:18:47] » All right. Any other uh final business
items?
[1:18:55] Okay. So, um actually, I'll throw in a
plug. The budget committee will meet on
[1:18:59] Tuesday, I'm sorry, Monday, May 11th. Is
that at 6:30? Bill.
[1:19:06] » Yes, that's I'm planning on it for 6:30.
>> 6:30. Okay. Yep. And that'll be a Zoom
[1:19:10] meeting and that'll be uh how you can
watch that will be publicized just like
[1:19:14] it has been for these uh selectman
meetings. Uh Ruth, please send that Zoom
[1:19:18] invite to all the board of selectmen as
well. Okay. Um and then uh and then May
[1:19:25] 12th and May 26 are our next regularly
scheduled uh board meetings.
[1:19:31] All right. At this point, I'm going to
move that we adjourn.
[1:19:36] Is there a
>> second?
[1:19:37] » Rich seconds. In favor of adjournment,
Rich.
[1:19:41] » Yes.
>> Rob,
[1:19:43] » yes.
>> Todd,
[1:19:45] » yes.
>> Mark,
[1:19:46] » yes.
>> And I am also a yes. We are adjourned.
[1:19:50] Thank you everybody. And Milt, thank you
for joining us tonight.
[1:19:54] » Happy to see you all looking healthy.
>> Yeah.
[1:19:57] » Good to see you, Mil.
>> Stay safe.
[1:19:58] » All right. Take care everybody.
>> Take care.