[0:00] For
[4:19] which it stands, one nation, under God,
[4:23] indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
[4:27] Did Andy leave?
[4:28] He did.
[4:28] Yes.
[4:29] Oh, okay.
[4:32] Well, good evening, everyone. I'd like to call the Fremont Selectboard meeting to
[4:36] order for the 8th of October.
[4:38] We're
[4:41] a couple of minutes late getting started here, but we're underway.
[4:44] So,
[4:45] I have some announcements, many of them actually.
[4:49] So just to remind everybody that the Grass Drag event is happening this
[4:53] weekend, starts on Friday and runs through Sunday, and
[4:57] I'm sure that it's busy out there now and all kinds of setups and
[5:01] inspections and things going on, and it'll be
[5:04] busy on that end of town, so keep that in mind.
[5:09] Basically, you're saying avoid it.
[5:12] Or just plan for it if you have to go that way.
[5:19] So, Monday is the 12th, known as Columbus Day in
[5:22] many parts of the States,
[5:25] but all town offices will be open on their
[5:29] normal schedule, and there are no delays in trash and recycling
[5:33] collections next week. I believe there's no school on Monday, though.
[5:36] That is correct. We did learn that.
[5:38] Yeah.
[5:38] Yep.
[5:39] And also on Monday, the 12th, Scribner Road will be closed from Thunder
[5:44] Road to Abbott Road,
[5:49] for the day, I guess, because there's a guardrail replacement occurring on the
[5:53] bridge, and so if you can choose an alternate route, that would be really good.
[5:58] I imagine local people will be able to get in there, but-
[6:01] Yep. Yeah
[6:01] ... because there's no school, there'll be no
[6:04] student buses.
[6:04] No buses, and we did it on a non-trash day.
[6:06] Yeah.
[6:09] So next Tuesday,
[6:11] the 13th,
[6:13] Heidi and officers from the Fremont Fire Rescue Department will host a
[6:17] community discussion on upcoming changes for EMS services in
[6:20] Fremont to include
[6:24] that we're losing our ambulance contract, and so we're looking
[6:28] to get a new one, and a potential five-year contract with
[6:32] Plaster ALS Paramedic Intercept Service that we
[6:36] have been using the last couple of years. Right?
[6:39] Mm-hmm.
[6:40] And they have a
[6:43] crew stationed out in the Brentwood Fire Department.
[6:46] And anyway, that meeting will occur at 6:30
[6:50] at the library on Tuesday the 13th.
[6:55] The Parks and Rec Commission will sponsor a trunk or treat on Sunday, October
[6:58] 25th from 3:00 to 4:00 PM at Ellis School.
[7:01] Check their Facebook page for a registration link.
[7:06] And Parks and Rec will sponsor an all-day scary tales event
[7:10] at the Meeting House
[7:12] on Friday, October 30th. So check their Facebook page for a
[7:16] link as a pre-registration is required.
[7:18] Limited seating is available at the Meeting House.
[7:22] And Parks and Rec will also sponsor an adult scary tales event at the Meeting House
[7:27] on the evening of the 30th.
[7:31] So check their Facebook page for that event, too.
[7:36] East Kingston Fire Department and Plaistow Fire Department
[7:39] and their ALS Paramedic Intercept
[7:43] program will host a community forum on these services and
[7:47] what it'll mean to our communities. So Fremonters are invited.
[7:51] It will be held at the East Kingston Elementary School, 5 Andrews Lane, on Friday,
[7:55] October 30th from 5:00 to 7:00 PM.
[7:58] And
[8:00] this group of people have heard that presentation. It's very informative.
[8:05] And then the Fall Bulky Day will be Saturday, October 31st from 8:00
[8:09] AM to noon at the Highway Shed. Danville Road will be
[8:13] closed. It'll be one-way traffic only during
[8:17] the event. And then later that day, the annual trick or treat will be held
[8:20] in Fremont
[8:23] from 5:00 to 8:00 PM.
[8:25] And then the last bit of news here I have is that
[8:28] the property tax rate has been set.
[8:33] We got the information yesterday.
[8:36] It was the first one in the state.
[8:39] Wow. Is that good or bad?
[8:42] Well, if you're like me and you-
[8:44] Yeah
[8:44] ... need to get the money in the coffers-
[8:46] You need to get behind
[8:47] ... you need to do it.
[8:47] So the tax rate is
[8:50] down from 1695 to 1652 a thousand.
[8:55] So that's what I have for announcements.
[8:58] And so I'm going to move on to liaison reports.
[9:01] Can you go through those announcements again? I didn't quite hear those.
[9:05] Well, I think you need to check on your hearing.
[9:09] Yeah.
[9:09] All right. So liaison reports.
[9:12] The planning board met last night at 7:00 PM in this meeting room,
[9:17] and the following items were discussed.
[9:20] The first item was Map two, Lot 162.
[9:24] This is 364 Main Street.
[9:28] 564.
[9:29] Sorry?
[9:30] It's 564.
[9:32] That's right.
[9:32] What are the plans with-
[9:33] I thought you said 364.
[9:34] No. 564.
[9:36] Okay.
[9:36] And the applicant is Hemlock and Birch.
[9:40] This is a major site plan application to
[9:43] operate a paving operation. And
[9:47] this
[9:48] site is that
[9:51] old logging operation-
[9:53] Behind
[9:53] ... by the library. Exactly.
[9:57] So it consisted of a conditional use permit for use
[10:00] within the flexible use residential district and
[10:04] then site plan review.
[10:06] I feel like we talked about this a little bit last year. Did we not?
[10:09] Yeah.
[10:09] Yeah.
[10:09] Yeah.
[10:10] Sorry. Continue.
[10:11] Yeah. So the board took jurisdiction of the application.
[10:16] They granted a conditional use permit for the
[10:20] operation and granted waivers.
[10:24] And then let me turn the page.
[10:26] There were comments from
[10:29] RPC, Rockingham Planning Commission, and the town engineer,
[10:33] and the board voted to continue the public
[10:37] hearing until Wednesday, 21st of
[10:40] October, which is two weeks' time.
[10:44] And we anticipate we'll be
[10:47] giving approval to that application at that time.
[10:51] The second item was Map three, Lots
[10:54] 187,
[10:56] 188 to 9, and 188 to
[11:00] 10. These three parcels
[11:04] located at the intersection of Sand Down
[11:07] Road and Victoria Farm Road
[11:10] belonging to the Nee Trust, and this was a
[11:14] preliminary review. So the board had a
[11:17] preliminary review meeting to discuss the proposed lot
[11:21] line adjustments of these parcels.
[11:26] Then Map two, Lot 141
[11:30] and Lot 141-1. This
[11:34] is Montana Realty Trust, and this is a lot
[11:38] line merger and subdivision. And this is
[11:42] basically the parcel off Route 107
[11:46] opposite Red Brook Road.
[11:50] We haven't had anything from them in a while, and they were
[11:54] due
[11:56] yesterday, and at their request, this
[11:59] meeting was
[12:01] continued to our 4th of November meeting.
[12:06] Then finally, there were a number of zoning
[12:10] amendments that were discussed, and these are
[12:14] zoning amendments that are triggered
[12:17] by state RSA changes that
[12:21] really require us to change our ordinances.
[12:27] With that
[12:28] finishing, the next meeting is
[12:32] in two weeks on Wednesday, 21st of October.
[12:36] Thank you.
[12:37] Very good.
[12:39] Any other
[12:41] liaison?
[12:43] Yeah, just that I went down to senior coffee hour today at
[12:47] the end of coffee hour at 11
[12:51] o'clock.
[12:51] Sure.
[12:52] And met with a group of probably 18 or so of the seniors who
[12:56] had been there, and had a great conversation with them about the ALS
[12:59] and the ambulance service stuff. A lot of great questions,
[13:03] just some shared information processes, all that kind of stuff.
[13:05] It was really, really good.
[13:07] All right. Yeah.
[13:08] I'm sure that they're paying attention.
[13:10] Yes.
[13:12] All right. So,
[13:14] the minutes from
[13:16] our meeting last week,
[13:19] and then it was continued to
[13:23] meeting yesterday morning, they're not available yet,
[13:27] so we should defer on approving them or reviewing them and for approval
[13:31] until next week.
[13:37] Do we have any
[13:40] appointments tonight?
[13:41] No.
[13:41] Okay.
[13:42] So,
[13:43] the next thing I see here is under old business is that
[13:48] we've been talking about a highway supervisor job description and
[13:52] job ads and compensation. And
[13:55] we've been kicking this around for a while. No decisions have been made.
[13:59] But Kathy Braun has put together some information.
[14:01] Looks like this.
[14:02] Yeah, I have it.
[14:03] It's on your-
[14:04] I have it right here.
[14:05] Yep.
[14:07] Kind of really looking at this exempt, non-exempt-
[14:11] Yeah
[14:11] ... kind of stuff.
[14:12] Yeah.
[14:12] She gave me two job descriptions, one which kind of
[14:16] meets the exempt criteria, one that doesn't.
[14:18] Yeah.
[14:19] And kind of put it together like this and wanted to draw your
[14:23] attention to it. The thing that I wrote in there is that in
[14:27] order to really meet the salary, which is the
[14:29] exemption,
[14:32] it has to be more than 50% administrative.
[14:35] And the position here really is not that. This is a working position.
[14:39] Yeah.
[14:41] So she really felt like,
[14:44] she said to me, "I don't have a horse in this race.
[14:46] It is what it is." But what I asked her was, "Can you really just dig into the
[14:51] FLSA?"
[14:54] Which is the federal labor-
[14:55] Fair Labor Standards
[14:56] ...
[14:57] law. As well as New Hampshire, but I think it's the federal that really covers
[15:00] this.
[15:00] I would be hard pressed to think that New Hampshire would be more restrictive.
[15:05] Right.
[15:07] So, this again is new to you. She gave this to me at 3:00
[15:11] today.
[15:11] You're talking about this one pager?
[15:14] I'm talking about this one pager.
[15:16] Yeah, she's got it.
[15:16] Yeah, I'm sorry. I thought you had the tax rate thing in your hand.
[15:20] So,
[15:23] I don't know if you're prepared to make a decision about that yet or not.
[15:27] I haven't talked with Leon about this at all.
[15:30] That was one of the things he was interested in.
[15:32] I know.
[15:32] And I think he will be here next week.
[15:36] You had said you wanted to make a decision about this
[15:39] depending on what we're going to do with this.
[15:40] It needs to be in the highway budget, and obviously there's a lot of moving
[15:44] parts.
[15:44] There's a lot of moving pieces.
[15:46] Yeah.
[15:46] All right. Well, thanks for that.
[15:47] So she had this, if you want to take a look at it.
[15:49] And if you wanted either me to copy this or I can pass this around tonight.
[15:53] She highlighted some stuff that's important.
[15:55] Because she's got tabs all over it, I didn't go make copies of all this, but
[15:58] there's a couple of things that are key to this that she gave me.
[16:03] This is a wage and hour thing. Prolonged course of
[16:06] specialized intellectual instruction.
[16:10] The learned professional exemption is not available
[16:14] for occupations that may be performed with
[16:17] only the general knowledge acquired by an academic degree, knowledge
[16:21] acquired through an apprenticeship, training in the performance of routine mental,
[16:25] manual, mechanical, or physical processes.
[16:29] And at the bottom, which is what she circled, the exemption also does not apply to
[16:32] occupations in which most employees acquire skill by experience.
[16:38] Which obviously,
[16:40] it was part of that. She felt like one of the things that she used when she was
[16:43] terming it to me, the exempt positions are those that are
[16:47] really management, administrative, engineer kind of people who are
[16:51] public works directors, that kind of thing.
[16:54] But I'm happy to give this to any of you that want to take it, or I will make
[16:57] copies and re-tab it or re-highlight it if you want to look at it.
[17:00] I'll let Kathy copy it.
[17:01] Okay. Whatever.
[17:02] I think I got just-
[17:04] Okay. And like I said, I'll pass this around.
[17:06] I'll put it in the mail folder that way if you want to take a peek at it, it is
[17:08] yours.
[17:08] Okay.
[17:10] Wait, there's some notes in here.
[17:12] All right. So,
[17:16] there's a 2027 warrant.
[17:20] So I put that on there because I've been handing this out the past couple weeks,
[17:23] and we have not taken any time to talk about it. I did not print it again tonight.
[17:27] I just want to call your attention to it.
[17:30] The other reason I'm bringing this up, one of the things that came up today
[17:34] at Senior Coffee, was somebody who was there said to me they really felt
[17:38] like potentially the reason why
[17:41] some of our warrant articles failed was because there was just so much there.
[17:45] That the CIP committee had really gone to town, that might have even been the words
[17:49] that he used.
[17:51] And there was just a lot for people to take in, which we all knew that was going to
[17:55] happen because there were so many items that Leon put
[17:59] such depth into that CIP,
[18:03] that
[18:04] it asked for every possible thing you ever might want.
[18:06] I know.
[18:07] Which makes the list huge, and it makes the
[18:10] savings plan for it longer, bigger numbers.
[18:14] Sure.
[18:15] Kind of sticker shock, perhaps.
[18:17] Yeah.
[18:17] And I think we knew that this was going to take an education process.
[18:22] But that's something else to think about.
[18:25] And
[18:25] I have left all of last year's warrant articles, the fire truck, the
[18:29] police equipment, the new fire equipment one.
[18:33] I left all those on here in the same amounts they were in last year because we
[18:37] need to talk about it.
[18:38] Can you email us that draft?
[18:40] Of course. Yeah, sure.
[18:47] So just that-
[18:48] Well, I think you should put that on as agenda item next week.
[18:51] Next week? Okay.
[18:51] We should come in here prepared to comment on this.
[18:53] So, the capital reserve for the bridge, the capital reserve for fire
[18:57] apparatus,
[18:58] highway equipment,
[19:01] the computer expendable trust fund, which is empty now because we've replaced two
[19:04] servers, the library maintenance, the museum capital
[19:08] reserve fund, the part-time librarian, a
[19:12] new expendable trust for police equipment, a new
[19:16] expendable trust...
[19:18] I'm sorry, a new capital reserve for fire rescue equipment,
[19:22] the contract with Plasto ALS, and some type of an ambulance
[19:26] contract, which isn't even in this draft yet.
[19:28] Right.
[19:29] The town clerk tax collector salary, which is not a big item,
[19:34] and then additional road work, and also mosquito control.
[19:39] Is it about 20 of them?
[19:40] I don't know. They're not numbered.
[19:41] I'm just calling them by name at this point, but I just read, there's at
[19:45] least 15 things I just read there.
[19:47] Right.
[19:47] This doesn't include zoning. It doesn't have the master budget article.
[19:50] I'll send you the whole thing, but this was just individual warrant articles, not
[19:53] the budget, not the zoning, that kind of stuff.
[19:55] I don't know how many zoning articles there are going to be, but-
[19:58] Right
[19:58] ... it's a lot. It's a lot for people to take in.
[20:00] So I will absolutely do that, and I'll add it next week as 10:15 agenda.
[20:05] Got it.
[20:07] All right.
[20:11] So,
[20:15] I'm going to move on to new business.
[20:17] And so I have a
[20:21] consent agenda that includes payroll in the amount of
[20:24] $53,099.92, and
[20:27] an accounts payable manifest of
[20:30] $1,088,504.54
[20:34] for the current week,
[20:36] dated 09/09/26. We got department head time sheets
[20:40] for the period ending 10/03/26. We got a manifest for avoided and
[20:44] reissued payroll checks with a net expense of zero after avoiding
[20:48] checks totaling $584.61 and reissuing
[20:52] checks
[20:53] in the same amount, $584.61.
[20:58] That's a total of four checks
[21:00] from various dates from June until September.
[21:03] We have a second issue property tax warrant of
[21:07] $7,569,665.
[21:11] This is down from the first issue, which was
[21:14] $7,841,469.
[21:20] So,
[21:22] and then we have a letter to Steve Bonaccorsi thanking
[21:26] him for his time on the budget committee.
[21:28] Can I just confirm something?
[21:31] When it comes to the accounts payable manifest-
[21:34] Yep
[21:34] ... in the amount of one million and 88-
[21:38] There's a million of that's going to the school district.
[21:41] Oh, okay.
[21:41] I was going to say.
[21:43] Yeah, there's a million to the school district.
[21:44] A million dollars is a transfer to the school.
[21:46] Yeah. It's a transfer.
[21:47] Based on that, I will make a motion to approve the
[21:51] consent agenda as read.
[21:53] Second.
[21:54] Motion has been made and seconded to approve the consent agenda as read.
[21:58] All those in favor say, "Aye."
[21:59] Aye.
[22:00] Aye.
[22:06] Thank you, sir.
[22:07] The printed agenda says 9/9. It's really 10/9. It's a typo.
[22:11] The date on those checks tomorrow is 10/9, which I think
[22:15] is what you said, but it says 9.
[22:17] All right.
[22:18] Just so you know.
[22:19] Let me correct.
[22:20] So for the current week, I said 9/9, because that's what's written here,
[22:24] but it's really 10/9.
[22:25] Sorry, 10/9, which is tomorrow. Yeah.
[22:26] All right.
[22:28] No, it's change noted. Thank you.
[22:30] Okay. My motion is to
[22:32] amend as read.
[22:36] Second.
[22:38] Okay.
[22:39] All those in favor?
[24:46] Aye.
[24:54] Here you go, son.
[25:15] I know what you're doing.
[25:17] Uh-huh.
[25:17] I know what you're doing. I know what you're up to.
[25:24] You watching him?
[25:25] Yeah.
[25:26] Like a hawk.
[25:27] He bears watching.
[25:28] Like a hawk.
[25:30] There is nothing there.
[25:31] Oh, okay.
[25:54] Oh, here we go.
[25:57] I knew you were going to say something.
[26:01] What?
[26:02] This will make a fool of my haircut.
[26:05] Oh, you had that cut since I saw you this afternoon.
[26:08] Yeah, see. I did.
[26:09] I didn't even notice that.
[26:11] I wanted to apply for a job at Unitil, the interview at Unitil, they wouldn't take
[26:14] me.
[26:16] And for good reason.
[26:28] Here.
[26:29] I'll let you get started.
[26:30] All right. Thank you.
[26:32] Because I'm thinking that if you don't have something to do, you might get in
[26:34] trouble.
[26:45] Yeah. It's like the old days, Roger,
[26:48] when you play in the house and dad goes, "Go mow the lawn."
[27:39] Here.
[27:40] Have some more.
[27:58] Oh, I understand this now, Heidi.
[28:02] I didn't understand it. I know what it is now.
[28:05] Those are your copies of them, just so we have the old number, new number with
[28:09] them.
[28:10] It's a redo for lack of cashing or something?
[28:13] Yes. Lost, went through the laundry, whatever.
[28:16] Okay.
[28:16] My dog ate it.
[28:16] I would hope one of these-
[28:17] Oh, a lot of that going on. A lot of it.
[28:21] Just tell them tough luck.
[28:23] Yeah.
[28:24] He wants you to tell them about the-
[28:25] Kathy Braun won't let me do that, she says
[28:26] ... virtues of-
[28:29] Direct deposit.
[28:31] One of those employees I got on direct deposit today.
[28:32] Well, that's what you did to me after my last one.
[28:36] Yeah.
[28:37] You chastised me-
[28:38] Yeah
[28:38] ... and told me I have to do-
[28:39] Enough so that you just felt like I had to do it, so that you don't...
[28:44] It will never happen again.
[28:45] There we go. That's what we like to hear.
[28:47] Well, if you've ever stood in line in a bank lately, you would probably go
[28:51] for the direct deposit. Here.
[28:52] Yeah, right.
[29:09] Here's the last of it.
[29:10] Perfect. Thank you.
[29:52] Like this.
[30:05] Oh, thank you.
[30:32] For you.
[30:35] I'm done, sir.
[30:37] So,
[30:37] our
[30:41] mail file includes
[30:45] email from JD Gross about Bulky Day,
[30:49] and a copy of intent to apply
[30:52] form for the Meeting House Window Moose Plate Grant.
[30:54] Andy Cole offers to put the application together.
[30:58] And then a
[31:00] copy of the,
[31:04] Budget committee vacancy posting. It's all in here.
[31:10] So anybody want to look at it?
[31:15] I found
[31:16] information on here about some of these information on job
[31:20] descriptions for road agents and
[31:23] various titles, and it varies quite a bit by scope of
[31:27] responsibility, such as a public works director and things like that.
[31:32] But I found that rather interesting. There's a lot of information there.
[31:35] Anybody want to see it, please-
[31:36] Just one minute.
[31:38] That probably wasn't in there when you looked at it earlier.
[31:39] I didn't see it.
[31:39] I'm sorry. No, it was out.
[31:40] No, that's okay.
[31:42] It wasn't-- I didn't even have it when you went in.
[31:44] I saw the request by
[31:47] an individual who's
[31:50] working to fund an Eagle Scout program.
[31:51] Eagles, yeah.
[31:52] I was looking to do a-
[31:53] Program
[31:53] ... bake sale at Bulky Day.
[31:54] Right.
[31:55] I saw your
[31:57] response to him, and I wholeheartedly agree.
[31:59] We do not want to get into any distractions down there in the
[32:03] Bulky Day, because it'll just slow up the whole process.
[32:06] Okay.
[32:06] We need people to move through and get out of there.
[32:09] I was going to suggest-
[32:10] Again, we have never allowed any campaigning down there or any of that sort.
[32:14] Right. Right. I was going to suggest
[32:17] Election Day. I might have even suggested that to him in the email-
[32:20] That's fine
[32:20] ... I'm not sure. Election Day.
[32:22] Maybe he wants to hook up with Bill Lutt.
[32:26] Paul, because Paul's raising that for one too.
[32:30] Oh, is that what Bill was talking about before?
[32:32] Yeah.
[32:32] Okay.
[32:32] It might be a little bit premature for it because he's working on it a year from
[32:36] now. But
[32:38] maybe team up and have a big yard sale.
[32:41] I mean, a big, big sale. I don't know.
[32:44] Okay.
[32:45] That's a lot of people down there. A lot of people are stressed out, and they want
[32:48] to grab three muffins on the way out the door.
[32:52] The other thing I'm thinking of is I wonder
[32:54] if he did it in the parking lot at the library that day or something.
[33:00] People come and go on a Bulky Day.
[33:04] Yeah.
[33:06] I don't know. I was just trying to think of alternatives.
[33:07] You want to do something that's obviously safe, but it's very difficult when
[33:11] we have any kind of a slowdown in there.
[33:13] It's b****r about-
[33:13] We'll put a big sign on the exit that, "Hey, there's a-
[33:17] Bake sale at the town hall or something
[33:19] ... Eagle Scout-
[33:20] Project or-
[33:20] ... bake sale in the library parking lot."
[33:24] Yeah. You could do it here would be real easy, but it's further away from the site.
[33:27] Right.
[33:27] I'm just thinking.
[33:27] Library would be best, and I wouldn't do anything without talking to
[33:31] Eric.
[33:32] No, but I could write back to him and give him Eric's email or something like that,
[33:35] and just see if it's a...
[33:37] Because there's-
[33:37] Is there a-
[33:37] ... a lot of people at the library on Saturday mornings, too.
[33:40] Yeah.
[33:41] Correct.
[33:41] All right. So I just wanted to-
[33:42] Okay
[33:43] ... run that by you and if that's the answer.
[33:44] All right. So
[33:48] it's mentioned earlier, but the DRA has set our tax rate at
[33:52] 1652.
[33:55] And so
[33:59] we just approved the
[34:03] amount of that in
[34:06] our consent agenda. So-
[34:08] All right. There's another grid-
[34:09] The bills are being prepared, and they're going to go out.
[34:11] They will be. Yeah.
[34:12] Okay. So-
[34:13] Debbie and I are going to talk about that tomorrow.
[34:15] Okay.
[34:15] There was another
[34:17] grid-
[34:19] Yeah
[34:19] ... in the pile of stuff I left for you tonight-
[34:20] Yeah. It's here
[34:21] ... that looks...
[34:23] Yeah, I can't seem to lay my hands on my own copy of it, but
[34:27] Kathy really dug into the grit of the
[34:31] changes in the tax rate. There was obviously some increases in the county one,
[34:35] which I'm assuming have to do with the new building.
[34:38] This would be the first year we would've had a bond payment on that new county
[34:41] building.
[34:41] Uh-huh. In Brentwood.
[34:42] In Brentwood.
[34:43] Yeah.
[34:44] But there are some pretty significant...
[34:47] And she went back to 2024-
[34:49] Right
[34:49] ... which is obviously pre-reval.
[34:51] So 2025 and '26, you have some consistency in terms of
[34:55] the values there because values almost doubled from '24 to
[34:59] '25 with the reval.
[35:00] Yeah.
[35:00] But there were some very significant increases in the school budget in
[35:04] '24.
[35:06] Right.
[35:06] A little bit less in '25, but the amount of state aid to
[35:09] education
[35:11] was
[35:12] very reduced in one of those years.
[35:14] Twenty five.
[35:14] It's almost like a negative number. Yeah.
[35:16] Twenty five.
[35:17] And then that's back to normal this year.
[35:19] That state does-
[35:21] But yeah. So you can-
[35:22] ... not do well in supporting education
[35:24] ... kind of just see the meld of it. I don't know.
[35:27] It would take me a little while, and I can't do it until I get on the other side of
[35:31] getting some of this budget stuff done, but
[35:33] to put together our... I usually do,
[35:36] not a fact sheet, but just an information about what the changes in the tax
[35:40] rate were.
[35:41] And I will still endeavor to try and do that this year.
[35:43] We have less questions when the tax rate goes down than we do when the tax rate
[35:47] goes up.
[35:48] Yeah.
[35:49] Not to say that it's still we don't get questions, we certainly do, but...
[35:52] Sure.
[35:53] All right.
[35:58] All right.
[36:00] So we're moving on to number five, is that correct?
[36:03] Yeah. So last Friday night I was here,
[36:06] and I took a call
[36:08] from a Brentwood resident who lives on North Road,
[36:11] on the Brentwood side of North Road, if you will, on the other side of 125 from
[36:15] here.
[36:15] Yeah.
[36:16] Just to let us know, said to me, "Hey, did you know that there's
[36:20] 100 unit..."
[36:22] I don't know if he called them apartment units.
[36:23] I think it's 118 units.
[36:25] Oh, okay. He said, I wrote in here, "Townhouses" is what he called them.
[36:28] Yeah.
[36:28] With a pickleball stadium.
[36:30] Yeah.
[36:31] So you know about this?
[36:33] Yeah, it was in the paper-
[36:35] Oh, okay
[36:35] ... the local paper today.
[36:36] Apparently, the hearing might have been last Thursday night-
[36:39] Yeah
[36:39] ... if that's when the Brentwood Planning Board meets.
[36:41] And it's really funny because Matthew Thomas was in my office
[36:45] at the time, picking up or
[36:49] dropping off something. And he had just mentioned it to me.
[36:53] And I said, "Oh, well, I don't really know much about it except somebody who's in
[36:56] my office just mentioned it to me." Anyway, he just said he was talking about the
[36:59] water usage, so... And it sounds like an open space because there's a lot of
[37:02] townhouses, and it's only 29 acres, so it's got to be a reduced density-
[37:06] Yeah
[37:06] ... kind of setup. But anyway, it was recessed to December.
[37:10] But he said it's from a well-known developer who I actually, I knew the
[37:14] developer he was talking about, who comes to meetings with engineers and lawyers
[37:18] and-
[37:18] Oh, sure
[37:18] ... just ready to go to town.
[37:21] And he was just encouraging us to watch it on YouTube or-
[37:25] Right
[37:25] ... he told me what
[37:27] venue they watch their meetings on. I think it's YouTube.
[37:35] All right. I didn't know what to do.
[37:36] I think the one thing I would say is that-
[37:38] I think you said it was... Oh, it is you two
[37:39] ... to reassure residents is that
[37:43] when you have zoning
[37:46] and you have the requirement for X number
[37:50] of acres per unit,
[37:54] and particularly when you talk about Brentwood or
[37:58] Freeman, where you're in well and septic-
[38:01] Mm-hmm
[38:01] ... then
[38:04] the requirements for your
[38:08] overall acreage
[38:12] per unit is such so that it can
[38:16] sustain the water usage and
[38:21] the septic. And although they may be
[38:25] doing open space development where they're compacting
[38:29] everything,
[38:31] at the end of the day, the overall space,
[38:35] including all the conservation
[38:39] land, is meeting that overall
[38:43] requirement. And so there shouldn't be
[38:47] overly concerns over, oh, is the water
[38:51] supply going to be
[38:53] sucked up because you're talking about a development
[38:58] spread over a number of acres, and the
[39:02] consumption per acre is within the
[39:06] normal limits of what the town allows.
[39:11] So I just wanted to make that point.
[39:16] So 28,000 gallons a day over 29 acres is like
[39:20] 1,000 gallons per acre.
[39:21] I'm not sure what the-
[39:23] I'm not sure where that number came from. That was what was quoted. I don't know.
[39:26] But in terms of if you're talking about number of
[39:30] units and the number of acres, the density
[39:33] is within the limits of what
[39:37] their zoning allows, and their zoning is
[39:42] allowance takes into account that you're in an
[39:46] aquifer or that you're dealing with wells and not
[39:50] town water.
[39:52] So lot size is determined by, a lot of the times, determined by
[39:56] water usage and sewer disposal?
[39:59] Well, no. Look,
[40:00] in terms of a single dwelling or-
[40:03] Yes. Yeah
[40:04] ... multiple dwellings-
[40:05] Right
[40:08] ... there's a density of
[40:13] units-
[40:14] Yeah. I get it
[40:15] ... and acres. And when we talk about open
[40:18] space, it's a part one and a part two.
[40:23] The part one is if you were doing a conventional development-
[40:27] Right
[40:27] ... of just regular single-family units-
[40:30] Okay
[40:30] ... with the acreage you've got and doing the
[40:33] roadways, how many units can you sustain
[40:37] on that?
[40:38] Got it. Okay.
[40:39] Like use 200 feet and two acres per house.
[40:42] Right.
[40:42] Traditional.
[40:43] And so you end up with, say,
[40:47] based on your land, you can do 30 units.
[40:50] Right. Okay.
[40:51] So when you then go to an open space
[40:54] development, you-
[40:55] What do you mean by that?
[40:57] Open space means you're compacting the
[41:00] development area, and you're putting aside
[41:04] land-
[41:04] Okay. Understood
[41:06] ... for conservation.
[41:07] Okay. Got it.
[41:07] And so if you're dealing with a 30 unit,
[41:12] rather than regular roads and everything else-
[41:15] Right
[41:15] ... you're compacting it to a smaller area.
[41:18] Understood.
[41:19] But you're putting land in conservation
[41:23] open space-
[41:24] Right
[41:25] ... to be able to offset that development.
[41:28] Got it.
[41:30] And what it does for the developer is allow them
[41:33] to develop a parcel, a
[41:37] smaller footprint,
[41:39] which means your unit cost per unit, because you
[41:43] got less road infrastructure-
[41:46] Cost-efficient. More cost-efficient
[41:47] ... more cost-efficient, and then
[41:50] the offset is you've got that open space for
[41:55] use.
[41:56] Okay. I understand. Thank you.
[42:00] You're welcome.
[42:00] It's basically-
[42:01] I'm putting my-
[42:02] If you had several lots, and you're only developing
[42:05] maybe a 5,000 square foot area in each lot, and you
[42:09] have two acres, you got,
[42:13] what is that? Close to 100,000 square feet
[42:17] of land, so you just start pulling up that excess land and
[42:22] create a larger open space.
[42:24] A good example is if you go off Susan Way-
[42:27] Yep
[42:28] ... to that new Lewis-
[42:30] Builders
[42:30] ... Builders development.
[42:32] Yep.
[42:33] They've compacted the development area, but
[42:37] have...
[42:39] And they were talking-
[42:40] A lot of extra land around it
[42:40] ... have they put any walking trails in or anything?
[42:43] Yes, I believe they have. Yes.
[42:44] They're going to. Yeah, that's part of it.
[42:45] Okay.
[42:45] There was a lot of wetland on that lot.
[42:47] And yeah, Black Rocks Village is-
[42:49] Same thing
[42:49] ... the same deal. There's open space there.
[42:51] Mashed together, but there's plenty open area around it.
[42:53] Open area around it.
[42:55] Yeah.
[42:55] Okay.
[42:56] Thank you. I was just trying to figure that out.
[42:58] Okay.
[43:00] Okay.
[43:03] So we're ready to move on to some budget items.
[43:05] So Heidi has presented us with the solid waste collection.
[43:08] I already got the solid waste one done, yeah.
[43:10] And solid waste disposal. We should know that I
[43:13] looked at the letter from Waste Management, and they
[43:17] are able to adjust their prices for inflation and the cost
[43:21] of-
[43:22] Fuel
[43:22] ... fuel. And so because fuel had been down
[43:27] in '25 compared to '24, we were getting
[43:31] a reduction
[43:33] for this year as a result of that. And now with the fuel costs-
[43:36] Yeah, we were getting a credit. Now we're getting-
[43:38] Yeah. And with the costs being what they are, it's gone up $350 a month
[43:42] above what it was At its previous highest point.
[43:45] So now it's $400 more a month.
[43:48] And for this year?
[43:49] I don't think it's going down anymore. I think it's done going down.
[43:53] Well, if they pick a high number now and they look back again next year,
[43:57] it might be lower than this high number.
[44:00] But in general, I understand your point.
[44:04] So,
[44:06] solid waste collection
[44:08] is
[44:11] in here at 402,000, and the recycling process,
[44:18] all the pickup is at 402,000 in round numbers here,
[44:22] and recycle processing is 64. And then our
[44:26] turnkey tonnage
[44:29] tipping fee is 143,000, round numbers again.
[44:36] Do we get that DES surcharge back?
[44:39] We do, but because they did not get that figured out until
[44:43] September-
[44:44] Yeah
[44:44] ... so we have only gotten one quarter so far.
[44:47] Oh, okay.
[44:47] So
[44:48] it's never going to get to be four quarters in a year.
[44:51] Well, it might by next year. We do get it back, but it is
[44:55] sluggish, and it is a pain.
[44:57] Okay. All right.
[45:00] That's mandatory. That's a state law.
[45:01] And then
[45:05] our recycling publicity is in here, our
[45:10] 53B dues.
[45:12] Our site improvements are down for a dollar, so I don't think we're going to be
[45:16] doing any.
[45:16] Right.
[45:16] That's just a placeholder.
[45:17] Yep.
[45:18] We got bulk recycling.
[45:19] Yep.
[45:20] That's bulky day, right?
[45:21] It is, yep.
[45:22] Yeah.
[45:23] So that's
[45:24] up slightly from this year.
[45:26] Yep. So this is one of the places where if I had realized
[45:30] how desperate our budget was, I would've asked you not to hold a fall
[45:34] bulky day,
[45:35] because I could've saved maybe upwards of $10,000 by not doing that.
[45:39] Yeah.
[45:41] So that's one of the things that we will look at real hard next year if we get a
[45:45] default budget.
[45:46] That'll just mean the other one is going to get overrun.
[45:49] It absolutely is. But
[45:52] something has to change.
[45:54] Yes.
[45:54] Yeah.
[45:54] So.
[45:55] I understand.
[45:55] There's some pretty big increases in this budget, and
[45:59] the vast majority of them are contracted because we have the contract with Waste
[46:02] Management that was voter approved-
[46:04] Yep
[46:04] ... which increases by 5% on top of an updated
[46:08] count based on how many new houses were built.
[46:11] Right.
[46:11] So this year, when I did that count in July of this year, it was only
[46:15] three new COs, whereas the prior year it was 22.
[46:19] Right.
[46:19] And next year, it's going to be more than 20.
[46:22] It won't be the whole 52, I don't think, but it'll be a good chunk of those houses-
[46:25] Right
[46:26] ... on Copyhold Mill.
[46:27] Right.
[46:27] So,
[46:29] our growth is what drives this.
[46:32] More people means more trash.
[46:34] Sure. Okay.
[46:35] Yeah, exactly.
[46:36] All right.
[46:37] Now that's a bulk recycling of-
[46:40] That's bulky day
[46:41] ... 16,000.
[46:42] The 16. Yep.
[46:42] That's for
[46:44] spring and fall.
[46:45] Well, it includes both, right.
[46:47] Okay. Because right now we have a
[46:50] 7,075 today.
[46:52] Yeah, we've spent half of it based on-
[46:53] Because that's the spring.
[46:55] Yeah. Yep, exactly.
[46:56] Yeah.
[46:56] Yeah.
[46:57] Okay.
[46:58] Well,
[47:00] these numbers are what they are.
[47:03] Right.
[47:03] And so if you're looking for a
[47:07] recommendation?
[47:09] Yeah, I am.
[47:10] Okay. I'll recommend
[47:12] 4323 solid waste collection
[47:17] in the amount of
[47:18] $466,187.
[47:24] Then there is 4324
[47:28] solid waste disposal in the amount of
[47:32] $170,975.
[47:39] Then with the
[47:42] taken into the revenue-
[47:45] Those numbers don't take that into account.
[47:47] Okay.
[47:47] It's just that 631 is just the total of the two.
[47:49] Okay.
[47:49] Okay.
[47:49] So I'm looking at a grand total of solid waste,
[47:54] recommending
[47:55] $631,162.
[48:00] I'll second that.
[48:02] Motion's been made and seconded to recommend
[48:05] $631,162 for expense group
[48:09] 4323 solid waste collection and expense group
[48:12] 4324 solid waste disposal. All those in favor say aye.
[48:15] Aye.
[48:16] Aye.
[48:17] Aye.
[48:19] It's unanimous.
[48:22] All right.
[48:32] What would you rather-
[48:33] Our tonnage just keeps going up.
[49:02] The other thing I copied for you, which is too much to read through tonight,
[49:06] and I don't have the budget done obviously because there's so many moving parts to
[49:10] it, but the health insurance renewal package came today.
[49:13] Yep.
[49:14] It's a pretty long document. I did print it out so that you could see.
[49:18] Obviously, the largest part of that is health insurance.
[49:21] It looks like our rates weren't terrible, but certainly it's still a big number.
[49:24] It was like a 5% change.
[49:26] No, it's 5.9.
[49:27] Okay, it's 5.9.
[49:28] So say 6.
[49:30] And the other packages, I don't have last year's comparison,
[49:34] and it only gives you, in general, the group change by X.
[49:38] It doesn't mean Fremont's rates were, so I haven't figured that out.
[49:40] But those are very small numbers in comparison, the amount
[49:44] we pay for short-term and long-term disability and life insurance-
[49:47] Yep
[49:48] ... policy. It's not very big coverage at all.
[49:51] Okay.
[49:52] So that's one of the largest budgets still to finish is the personnel
[49:56] administration. That's where all those costs go.
[49:58] So we are starting to work on that.
[50:00] All right.
[50:04] Okay. Anything else on budgets today?
[50:07] I don't have any more, no. I had hoped to get more done, but-
[50:10] All right.
[50:12] Got bogged down in the tax rate and some other stuff.
[50:16] Okay. Anything on works in progress?
[50:20] No, there's all kinds of works going on. I just didn't detail out anything here.
[50:24] All right.
[50:26] Well,
[50:28] just
[50:30] kind of recap where we are on the meeting house,
[50:33] because with all the stuff we're dealing with, it'd be real easy to
[50:37] backburner that.
[50:39] Yeah. Thankfully, Andy and I think Matthew
[50:43] is doing a little bit behind the scenes too.
[50:45] But thankfully, Andy Kohlhoffer has really taken that ball and run with
[50:49] it. Today, I gave him a copy of the lead assessment,
[50:53] and I gave him the two quotes that Justin had, which are very
[50:57] different from the quotes he's collecting from specific
[51:00] restoration historical-type contractors.
[51:04] Very different approaches, very different numbers.
[51:07] But at least it was two more sets of quotes.
[51:09] He met with a second architect tonight down there.
[51:12] That's when he came in before the meeting, he was returning.
[51:14] Yeah, I drove by, and they weren't in there.
[51:16] Okay. So he's working on that. He's going to get started on the
[51:20] Moose Plate grant.
[51:22] Yeah.
[51:22] And
[51:24] Matthew and I have both offered to be a backup, but I can't carry that ball
[51:28] this time of year, so-
[51:29] So what about-
[51:29] ... he's planning to do that.
[51:36] Elchipp and Moose is the same, right?
[51:40] I don't know if that's the same grant.
[51:43] I don't think it is.
[51:45] Okay.
[51:47] I guess so much for that going on.
[51:47] I know that
[51:49] we submitted our notice of intent. I think I had put that in the mail file.
[51:52] I did that last Friday afternoon.
[51:55] Yeah.
[51:55] And
[51:58] Andy was going to start working on the Moose Plate.
[52:00] There was an email back and forth between Andy and myself, and Matthew over the
[52:03] weekend
[52:04] about working on that grant and stuff like that.
[52:07] So I don't have any more of an update than that.
[52:09] Okay.
[52:11] I know it's going to be a substantial amount of money to do just even the window
[52:15] work.
[52:15] Right.
[52:15] He was talking tonight, $150,000 to $200,000.
[52:19] Right.
[52:19] So.
[52:24] Oh, and the other thing I did today was I reached out to...
[52:26] There's a person in town I know that does asbestos testing, and I did reach
[52:30] out to her to try and figure out what that was going to cost us.
[52:33] Because the two questions that Justin was getting from every contractor he
[52:37] spoke to was, is there any lead paint, and is there any asbestos?
[52:40] Right.
[52:41] We don't necessarily think there's a...
[52:43] There's nothing in there that would make you think that there's asbestos unless it
[52:46] was used in something-
[52:47] Well, yeah
[52:49] ... I don't know.
[52:49] Sometimes-
[52:50] But
[52:50] ... adhesives or something, but-
[52:52] It could be. The building is so old
[52:53] ... given how the building was built and given how it's been maintained, I don't
[52:56] know that-
[52:57] I don't either, but we need to be able to answer the question, because Justin said
[52:59] there were some people who wouldn't come unless he could say yes, no, whatever to
[53:03] those questions.
[53:04] That's fine.
[53:04] So, yeah. So I am planning to meet with Gina on
[53:08] Monday.
[53:09] Okay.
[53:15] Anything
[53:17] do we need to follow up on in the near term here with regards to the concession
[53:21] stand and those folks?
[53:24] There is. I went down there today to take some pictures.
[53:26] I did talk with Debbie yesterday, I think, about that.
[53:30] I would like to follow up with the FAA.
[53:33] There's less stuff in there than I was expecting there to be in there, so I don't
[53:37] know if some things have been moved or not.
[53:39] But I do want to follow up with the FAA to find out about the...
[53:42] I'm assuming the five-gallon joint compound pails are
[53:45] paint,
[53:47] but I don't know that.
[53:49] Because I didn't look at the labels.
[53:50] I was in there. We were in, I didn't pay attention.
[53:52] Okay. And I could see the paint machine and that kind of thing in there.
[53:55] But
[53:56] they are very anxious to get going and to take a couple things to bulky day.
[54:00] I know that the stove belongs to us because I actually donated that stove
[54:05] 20 years ago.
[54:06] I don't know if it works or not. I don't know if-
[54:08] I would toss it
[54:08] ... they were not going to use it as a concession stand.
[54:10] The fridge is in pretty rough shape.
[54:12] Yeah.
[54:12] And again, the Coke machine, I'm pretty sure-
[54:14] Yeah, we've pretty much talked-
[54:15] ... probably must be returned
[54:16] ... that all of the appliances-
[54:18] Should go
[54:18] ... need to go.
[54:19] Okay.
[54:20] So there'll be some fees to get rid of some of that stuff, the fridge at least.
[54:23] Yeah.
[54:24] I don't know about the Coke machine.
[54:26] Like I said, I think that probably belongs to Coke and that somebody owes them it
[54:29] back. But the town didn't orchestrate getting that there, so someone from the FAA,
[54:32] probably years ago.
[54:34] Right.
[54:34] I'm assuming.
[54:35] I'm sure Coke doesn't want that, unless they got an antique collection.
[54:38] Okay. And maybe they don't. Okay.
[54:41] So we are working on it. I told Debbie to keep kicking my chair about it.
[54:44] She's very anxious to make something happen with it, and I'm-
[54:53] Yeah, we got a number of things going on.
[54:56] Yes.
[55:01] Anything else for the public portion of this meeting?
[55:05] I'll entertain a motion to go into non-public for our personnel.
[55:09] I'll make a motion to go into non-public,
[55:12] help me with the numbers.
[55:13] 91A 32C.
[55:14] 91A 32C.
[55:16] Yeah, I always had that tip of the tongue. I'll second that.
[55:19] All right.
[55:20] The motion's been made to go and
[55:22] seconded to go into non-public under 91A 32C.
[55:26] Aye.
[55:26] All those in favor say aye.
[55:28] Aye.
[55:28] Aye.
[55:29] Aye.