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All in a lot of ways. Yeah. It's the ordinance meeting. Nice. Yeah. You know,

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take my hand.

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Good

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evening. I'm Brian Miller, Chair of the Game Board of Finance. I call this regular meeting of the Board of Finance to order at 7.02 p.m. on August 17th.

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So, as a reminder, the role of the board is to review the talent's finances carefully,

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transparently, and to make recommendations that reflect both fiscal responsibility and

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a long-term interests of our residents, while we may bring different perspectives,

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and the priorities that table share a common goal, serving the talent's integrity,

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diligence, and respect for the resources entrusted to us.

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I want to emphasize that this board functions best when we work together in a spirit of collaboration,

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mutual respect, thoughtful discussion, and different viewpoint strength in our decisions

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for our commitments with Tad and Naitsos.

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That will proceed with the agenda.

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One was roll call.

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Vice Chair Bob Nanu, here.

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Welcome back and we thank the person here, Bob.

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Great to have you in person with us.

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Thanks.

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A member can I'm free here.

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A member of the bank, Barry.

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A

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member of the accounting.

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Present.

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A member of the department called here.

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All right.

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for the record. Member Bagbury is participating remotely. Thank you. Roll call has been taken,

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warm as present. We will proceed. So we'll kick off the meeting tonight with public participation

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as usual. Please try to keep to a three minute time limit or speaker on any item. We will begin with

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comments from those folks in the room and then move to those who would like to participate remotely.

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And for the board, we did receive board emails throughout the day today that I forward

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to the long team guys and keep those in mind as well as comment for the evening.

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All right.

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Good

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evening.

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Good evening.

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My name is Kim Bowen and I live at 1-4-4 Cherry Park Road.

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I'm speaking tonight because I am not in favor of the board of finance reciting the federal

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of legions at the start of his meetings.

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I think that there are many reasons why one would not

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feel comfortable doing that.

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And while there's an option, there are several options.

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One can remain seated, stand and not put his hand

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up or his heart.

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Believe the room.

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I think those are all options that

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might make someone uncomfortable and feel

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will compel to stand and join in saying the pledge.

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So for that reason, I would rather not have

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pledged to leave this recited.

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Thank you.

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Thank you for your comments.

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All right, we'll move to those folks who are online.

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If you'd like to make public comment,

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please raise your hand at this time.

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The mic is unmuted.

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All right, Michelle, you have been unmuted.

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Please proceed with your public comment

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after you unmute yourself on your own.

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Yes.

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Okay.

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Can you all hear me?

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Yes.

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Okay.

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Excellent.

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I was just getting my notes in order, so I apologize because my name, first of all, Michelle

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Kulak, 167 Hill Street, I wanted to start with a little bit of a history lesson.

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So the Pledge of Allegiance, for those who don't know, as we know it, minus the phrase

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under God, which I will get to, owes its origins to a marketing campaign, the intent of which

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was to inspire American nationalism in school children and to sell some American flags

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to public schools.

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It was written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy, who was a Baptist minister and a Christian

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socialist, a fact I did not know until today.

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Bellamy's pledge came with a salute eventually removed in 1942 due to its similarities to

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the Nazi salute adopted in Germany in the 1930s.

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The phrase under God was added in 1954 in part as a way to differentiate the United States

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of America from quote unquote godless communist countries.

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It has quite the colorful history.

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In 1943 in West Virginia State Board of Education versus Barnett, the Supreme Court ruled

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that public school students are not required to state the pledge.

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It was justice, this is where I was looking, hang on one second, okay, it was justice

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Robert H. Jackson who said, if there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation,

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it is that no official high or petty can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism,

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religion, or other matters of opinion, or four citizens to confess by word or act

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their faith therein. If there are any circumstances which permit an exception,

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they do not now occur to us. I have to say that I agree. I have many personal

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feelings regarding the Pledge of Allegiance, especially when it comes to school

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children who by virtue of many of their age, not all of them, but most of them, are

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cannot give consent to say the pledge, cannot possibly understand it nor give

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consent. But tonight I will leave it at this. I do not believe a recitation of

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the pledge is necessary at town meetings. I believe it is performative and could

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potentially take focus away from what we are actually here to do and who we are

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here to serve. It is not important to me for my elected officials to pledge a

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allegiance to an inanimate object. Instead, I would rather they pledge allegiance to those

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they serve because it is not about the flag itself. It is about the flesh and blood beneath it.

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And that's all I have to say. And I appreciate your time, guys. Thank you very much for all you do.

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Thank you for your comments, Michele.

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I'm black for you, Mike, is on the agenda.

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All right, Tom, your mic has been on duty.

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Please proceed.

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Good evening, Tom.

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Glad to see you again, Connecticut.

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Wow, I don't know how to follow that last speaker.

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Particularly an elected official would make those comments remarks.

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First of all, I do implore that speaker to look up the general statutes,

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10-2-30, which is a Connecticut general statutes.

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We just stay law, we're all schools in Connecticut,

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like at least public schools have to provide a time each day for students who want to say

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the pledge, to recite the pledge.

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Secondarily, the pledge allegiance, we recite it to show loyalty to the U.S. and the core

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values of freedom, unity, and democracy, and it was kind of pointing that the chairman

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mentioned the word, you know, unity or unification, uniformity in his open remarks, and that's

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something that we should all embrace.

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And I'm not sure where we've departed as a society

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where we can't say 31 words

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which will take approximately 10 seconds to recite.

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And I have a real hard time,

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I listen to the last meeting, the comments

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that were made, the opposition.

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And there was no substantive comments, you know,

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divisiveness, you don't have to recite it.

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People take a knee when the national anthem

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is recited or sung, you know.

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So there you don't have to say the word got you don't have to stand up like I said the state the Supreme Court

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Is that as much US Supreme Court and state law doesn't allow it

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But why we are back paddling away from embracing unity loyalty patriotism and particularly the veterans on this board

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And all those folks that lost their lives and given either their life or life and limb

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For sacrifices for our freedom. I don't know why we as a country are back and away from that the other two boards were cited

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the main boards in this town and I implored this board to do it. There's no

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harm in doing it. No one's going to be alienated. No one's going to be offended.

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And if they don't want to recite it or say it, whether it's the word God, or if

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they can't stand up and spend 10 seconds with saying 31 words or 30 if you take

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out God, looking at the flag and embracing the United States of America, then you

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know, I'm really at a loss for words. So again, I don't know who would speak

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against this. It's very shameful and embarrassing to be quite frank, but I implore you to vote in favor of it. Thank you.

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Thank you for your comments.

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All

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right,

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already been unmuted. Please proceed with your poll to comment.

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Hi, good evening. Can you hear me okay?

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Yes.

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Okay.

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Aubrey Blatchley-Bart Drive. I spoke already the last time this was on your agenda in favor of adding to the pledge of allegiance.

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And I just I won't repeat the comments I made then I just wanted to add because the discussion of the board followed and it it did give rise to some other comment for me.

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The discussion seemed to center around from your board anyway that this is a board of finance meeting and some suggested that the pledge has nothing to do with municipal finance, but I would respectfully disagree the work of this board is not separate

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it from the principles of our country.

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It exists because of them.

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Every budget decision, every allocation of tax dollars

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and every act of public service that you carry out

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or any of the other boards, which I'll say

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because several other board members have now spoken

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out public comment from different boards.

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Every act of public service is carried out

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under the authority of a government that's founded

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on the very ideals that our pledge represents.

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So to me, this isn't about politics

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for making a statement, it's a few seconds at the beginning of a meeting to recognize

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the country and the principles that make local government what you're all doing here

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and what we all elected you to do possible.

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Thank you.

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Thank you for your comments.

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All right.

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Sarah, you've been unmuted.

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Please proceed when you're ready.

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Thank you very much.

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Can you hear me all right?

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Yes, we can.

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Good.

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with Sarah Faulkner, 25-Dyar Avenue.

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With respect to both blatchlies, I understand their position and I understand how strong

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they feel about saying the pledge.

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And I would like to disagree with their premises and agree with Kim.

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I have been a teacher for 27 years and the pledge is recited in school every single morning

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and every single school I've been in.

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And it's quite true that you don't have to recite it.

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You could stay seated or you could stand up.

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not put your hand over your heart. That's allowed. But when you do something like that and the majority of people are reciting a pledge, especially in a governmental setting like ours, it makes those who choose to not do that feel ostracized and identified.

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And I think that our role, especially in a local government, is to embrace everyone and to make our actions transparent and open to all people.

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And to start off a meeting with something that by its very nature causes people to feel separate is inappropriate.

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And this is with full respect to our military and to our country.

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As you know, I'm a selectman. I served at the Board of Finance for eight years.

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I served at the Conservation Commission for 30 years.

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And I am a patriot. I absolutely am. And my dad was a veteran.

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But I do not think that stating the pleasure of allegiance, the beginning of all of our meetings,

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is either appropriate or embracing to the public.

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And I think we need to be conscious of that.

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Whenever we do something like this,

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whether it's prayer in school

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or it is reciting the pleasure of lesions

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or singing the same song

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or having Christmas decorations up,

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we are doing something alienates part of our population.

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And I think we need to be conscious of making sure

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we really encourage everyone to participate

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and feel equally welcome.

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And the pledge is a divider,

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particularly in these times of a lot of political upheaval in this country.

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I have a flag up in front of my house, I am a patriot, I love the country, I wouldn't volunteer

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for it if I didn't feel that way, but I do not think it's appropriate to force people

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to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, or necessarily to even have to participate or stand there

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and watch others participate because then they will feel more unwelcome.

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So I respectfully disagree, I think the principles of our country are founded on individual

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rights and I think by pushing us to recite something that some people may not feel comfortable

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reciting is not a principle of our country and it's not being respectful of individuals.

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So thank you for your time, that's my opinion.

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Thank you for your comments.

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If anyone else on the line would like to make a public comment, now is the time to raise

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your hand.

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All right, seeing none, thank you everyone who emailed in, there are clouds for the evening

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tonight.

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Thank you, those of the person in the room who shared their comments tonight and those online who also shared their thoughts and thoughts.

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I always appreciate hearing from those who participate in our meetings.

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Thank you.

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We're taking the time to do so. All right, and with that, we'll move on and close public comment. Move on with the rest of the meeting. agenda item two updates from the chair. I don't have any particular updates at this time. And we have no new business on the agenda. So we'll move straight to our old business, which is the topic that was the focus of our public comment, so meeting opening procedure.

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So while this topic of how to open up the board of finance meetings, what's the best way

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to do it?

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What's the best way to state our community together?

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This is a reprisal of this agenda item from two months ago.

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We had some debate on chair opinions on this board or opinions from the public.

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And upon number on freeze requests, we delayed this further discussion on this.

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and so Nutri-McGullag to be back from vacation.

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So now that we have our full board here,

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I think we can go forward with the rounding out

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our discussion at this topic.

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I do regret that this has turned into a referendum

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on the question of allegiance,

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which is not the business of this board.

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But there's strong feelings about it on both sides,

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so it is what it is.

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With that, I'll open it up to this board

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to share any additional thoughts, reactions you have on the topic, and go from there.

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So, start with down at the other table with Madam Annem.

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Thank you. I can only reference my personal experience with this. I was a high school teacher

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for 23 years, and what the school did not say the pledge. Every day of the week it did

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on Mondays, the man to the pledge be said, and to tell you the truth, this is high school.

235
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My home was usually the upper-classmen, junior sub-sacers. It caused consternation among the kids in a room,

236
00:17:19,430 --> 00:17:29,070
especially the ostracizing those who chose not to participate. It did create much discord.

237
00:17:29,070 --> 00:17:34,690
And it seemed to me a bizarre way to start the school week with Discord.

238
00:17:35,430 --> 00:17:38,490
This issue is a personal issue.

239
00:17:38,990 --> 00:17:45,310
I don't think it's all right to demand one way or another, even with exclusions.

240
00:17:45,790 --> 00:17:51,570
People be subjected to the pledge of allegiance personally.

241
00:17:51,970 --> 00:17:53,670
I don't mind saying the pledge of allegiance.

242
00:17:53,670 --> 00:18:03,270
But I respect the behaviors and needs of other people that we should not be creating a situation

243
00:18:03,270 --> 00:18:06,490
that begins a meeting with unrest.

244
00:18:07,090 --> 00:18:08,970
It's divisive.

245
00:18:09,810 --> 00:18:13,550
It's no secret that the country has two different views on this.

246
00:18:14,230 --> 00:18:17,450
And I think it's a battle that we shouldn't withdraw from.

247
00:18:18,070 --> 00:18:18,530
Thank you.

248
00:18:20,270 --> 00:18:21,170
Thanks, Bob.

249
00:18:27,110 --> 00:18:35,070
I appreciate everybody's comments and I'm from the letters that we received to Cam and everyone online.

250
00:18:36,150 --> 00:18:45,770
I think I just have confusion myself overall because I'm just curious on how we got here as a board of finance.

251
00:18:45,770 --> 00:18:55,790
was it because we were not saying the Pledge of Allegiance and people residents were upset

252
00:18:55,790 --> 00:19:02,290
at that or we were saying it and the residents didn't like us to say it.

253
00:19:03,190 --> 00:19:07,970
Were we just not saying a period with a certain board if it was a chairman or someone decided

254
00:19:07,970 --> 00:19:12,350
that we were just weren't going to say it, I think that's where my confusion is, not that

255
00:19:12,350 --> 00:19:12,850
matters.

256
00:19:15,390 --> 00:19:24,770
Listening to some of the comments tonight personally I don't really believe that

257
00:19:26,390 --> 00:19:32,810
individuals would be ostracized if we decided to say it as a board and people decided to either

258
00:19:32,810 --> 00:19:36,870
sit or not say the word God but that's an opinion.

259
00:19:39,570 --> 00:19:47,550
If I were to share my personal belief and opinion of the issue, I have no problem saying

260
00:19:47,550 --> 00:19:48,330
in the pleasure of allegiance.

261
00:19:50,130 --> 00:19:59,590
Me, I think because we have the choice in this great country to either say it or not

262
00:19:59,590 --> 00:20:02,650
say it is a good enough reason to say it.

263
00:20:07,150 --> 00:20:13,950
Now, if it were to pass the night, I'd be happy if it doesn't, I'd be a little upset

264
00:20:13,950 --> 00:20:15,490
because I think we'd lose something.

265
00:20:16,670 --> 00:20:24,010
My overall concern though is if we decide not to say it, I'm going to feel bad for those

266
00:20:24,010 --> 00:20:25,970
individuals that want it to be said.

267
00:20:27,010 --> 00:20:28,710
You know, we have to support those residents too.

268
00:20:29,550 --> 00:20:33,410
So I don't know if there's a compromise on this at all.

269
00:20:34,190 --> 00:20:38,510
I know we're going to get to the vote and it's going to, the chips are going to lie.

270
00:20:39,430 --> 00:20:43,110
But I support having it being said for me.

271
00:20:43,710 --> 00:20:45,090
So thank you very much.

272
00:20:46,450 --> 00:20:49,590
Thank you, Bill. Just real quick, can we try to move to you?

273
00:20:50,210 --> 00:20:51,170
How do we get here?

274
00:20:52,870 --> 00:20:59,990
The Pledge of Allegiance hasn't been on the Board of Finance agenda in recent order

275
00:20:59,990 --> 00:21:00,730
of long history.

276
00:21:01,030 --> 00:21:05,870
It's been, you know, at least 30 years plus that has not been recorded as being an agenda

277
00:21:05,870 --> 00:21:07,390
item on the Board of Finance.

278
00:21:08,130 --> 00:21:13,010
So it is precedent that it just has not been part of the regular meeting of the Board of

279
00:21:13,010 --> 00:21:13,310
Finance.

280
00:21:14,650 --> 00:21:20,910
Two years ago, I remember, I remember Blashley started requesting that we add the Pledge

281
00:21:20,910 --> 00:21:22,350
the Regents to the agenda.

282
00:21:25,470 --> 00:21:31,690
And I didn't take action on it at that time and then more recently,

283
00:21:31,950 --> 00:21:38,330
we had a member of the public recite the Pledge of Allegiance during public comment. And I think

284
00:21:38,330 --> 00:21:43,870
that kind of sparked a discussion on this board about whether it should or should not be part of

285
00:21:43,870 --> 00:21:50,510
our opening procedure. And then I at the year request bill I did add it as an agenda item so we

286
00:21:50,510 --> 00:21:55,770
can have a discussion about it in Outlook. And so that's why we're having this discussion

287
00:21:55,770 --> 00:22:00,130
tonight. So if we as a board can all share our opinions here, all of the opinions on it,

288
00:22:00,270 --> 00:22:01,330
we're making an informed decision.

289
00:22:04,020 --> 00:22:04,780
I think I'm

290
00:22:10,180 --> 00:22:11,840
going to think what I said last time.

291
00:22:16,960 --> 00:22:23,180
Well, it's, you know, just a start off with the color bunny screen doesn't really care about

292
00:22:23,180 --> 00:22:29,480
anything else. And the pledge is a pledge to our nation.

293
00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:36,720
My father served in the word of finance. They did not say in the use 20 years military.

294
00:22:37,480 --> 00:22:44,000
They didn't say the pledge of allegiance. I've been on board around roughly 18 years.

295
00:22:44,320 --> 00:22:45,740
We didn't say the pledge of allegiance.

296
00:22:48,260 --> 00:22:52,280
I'm not hung up on whether we do or we don't.

297
00:22:52,780 --> 00:23:02,560
I am going to vote for it because as pointed out by very intelligent people

298
00:23:02,560 --> 00:23:09,480
That it is offensive to some people but not saying it is also offensive to some people

299
00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:17,540
So the choice if we stand up when we say to pledge allegiance they do not have to stand up and say the pledge allegiance

300
00:23:18,220 --> 00:23:23,620
That's their choice and that's how long they'll look at it from this point on. Thank you

301
00:23:24,520 --> 00:23:25,100
Thanks, Kim

302
00:23:31,620 --> 00:23:36,800
Appreciate you guys delaying until I was able to get back and I put a lot of thought into this

303
00:23:36,800 --> 00:23:40,500
So to avoid the usual criticism this board gets

304
00:23:40,500 --> 00:23:42,460
about glossing over topics and proposals,

305
00:23:42,980 --> 00:23:45,620
I put about eight to 10 hours in researching

306
00:23:45,620 --> 00:23:46,860
the history of the Pledge of Legends.

307
00:23:47,800 --> 00:23:50,540
Unfortunately, we've already had the history lesson this evening.

308
00:23:51,360 --> 00:23:54,860
And so I will just skip through most of my notes.

309
00:23:55,760 --> 00:23:58,640
Just because I really wanted to get everyone on the same page

310
00:23:58,640 --> 00:24:01,060
about where this, where it originated from,

311
00:24:01,440 --> 00:24:02,440
and where it came from.

312
00:24:02,560 --> 00:24:05,800
And I can provide this to the group offline.

313
00:24:05,800 --> 00:24:12,480
but Michelle's already kind of educated us on a lot of it. So I'll kind of just skip to the end.

314
00:24:15,500 --> 00:24:20,800
About, you know, it was a marketing campaign written by a socialist with goals of a utopian society.

315
00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:26,480
That's what it was written by. And so why do we need to say the Pledge of Allegiance?

316
00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:31,940
I went back and listened to the comments of all those that are pro for all the board members

317
00:24:31,940 --> 00:24:39,740
that are pro-ported. And I feel like the argument is that it's a shared ritualistic focus of the

318
00:24:39,740 --> 00:24:44,400
group to honor the nation to remind us of our civic duty. I think that's kind of the gist

319
00:24:44,400 --> 00:24:49,740
of it why people want to do it. And I think that's great. I see absolutely nothing wrong with that.

320
00:24:50,620 --> 00:24:55,800
Something that centers the members of the board and reminds us that we're not loyal to a party

321
00:24:56,460 --> 00:24:59,600
but to both national and state constitutions.

322
00:25:00,720 --> 00:25:03,300
And that's kind of where my problem lies with the pledge.

323
00:25:04,220 --> 00:25:06,480
It doesn't put the focus on my commitments

324
00:25:06,980 --> 00:25:10,040
on the law of the land created by the people and for the people.

325
00:25:10,580 --> 00:25:12,560
When I was elected to this position,

326
00:25:13,260 --> 00:25:17,600
it took something far more significant than a pledge,

327
00:25:17,900 --> 00:25:18,760
and that was an oath.

328
00:25:20,040 --> 00:25:23,040
For the general statutes of the Connecticut Constitution,

329
00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:30,580
For those following along in your annual section, 7341, and the Cameham Charter Article 1203,

330
00:25:31,040 --> 00:25:35,340
every elected member of the board must be sworn or affirmed to a faithful performance

331
00:25:35,340 --> 00:25:35,840
of their duties.

332
00:25:36,940 --> 00:25:38,940
And I'll quote, this is the oath we all took.

333
00:25:39,820 --> 00:25:45,000
I do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the

334
00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:49,040
Constitution of the State of Connecticut, that I will faithfully discharge according to

335
00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:52,480
law, the duties, the board of finance, and the best of my abilities, so healthy God.

336
00:25:53,560 --> 00:25:56,800
Additionally, 30 years ago, I was when I was commissioned here for such a similar

337
00:25:56,800 --> 00:25:57,200
oath.

338
00:25:58,400 --> 00:25:58,840
Very similar.

339
00:25:59,280 --> 00:26:00,820
It's important to defend the Constitution.

340
00:26:01,940 --> 00:26:06,380
I, for I'm a college who solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution

341
00:26:06,380 --> 00:26:11,200
against all enemies, foreign to end domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to

342
00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:11,580
the same.

343
00:26:11,580 --> 00:26:16,280
And I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion and

344
00:26:16,280 --> 00:26:18,240
and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties

345
00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:19,880
the office upon which I'm about to enter.

346
00:26:19,880 --> 00:26:20,680
So help me, God.

347
00:26:21,460 --> 00:26:23,100
We did not wake up every morning

348
00:26:23,100 --> 00:26:24,920
and recite the pledge of allegiance to remind us

349
00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:25,560
of our oath.

350
00:26:26,360 --> 00:26:28,800
It was never, we were never required to repeat that oath.

351
00:26:29,460 --> 00:26:32,380
We said it once, we meant it, and we were helped to it.

352
00:26:33,400 --> 00:26:35,600
Both, both are binding commitments

353
00:26:35,600 --> 00:26:37,540
that create legal accountability.

354
00:26:38,300 --> 00:26:40,580
The pledge is technically just a poem.

355
00:26:41,440 --> 00:26:44,600
It neither adds nor places the obligation we already carry.

356
00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:49,560
If the board truly wishes to begin each meeting with a reminder to our duty to the Constitution

357
00:26:49,560 --> 00:26:54,420
and to the people we serve, the more meaningful practice would be for the board members to

358
00:26:54,420 --> 00:26:55,740
recite our office itself.

359
00:26:56,240 --> 00:27:01,500
It's a shared ritualistic focus, the original focus of the group, and honor the nation

360
00:27:01,500 --> 00:27:02,860
and the reminders of our civic duty.

361
00:27:04,200 --> 00:27:09,060
The second I concern I have with starting the meeting with this pledge is suggesting that

362
00:27:09,060 --> 00:27:13,060
people have the choice if they're opt out or don't want to participate.

363
00:27:13,060 --> 00:27:21,500
We all agree that the Supreme Court said mandating the pledge is a labor, and Michelle has

364
00:27:21,500 --> 00:27:25,880
already quoted us from the West Virginia State Board of Education, versus Barnabt.

365
00:27:26,060 --> 00:27:32,640
However, when participation is formally made voluntary, leading the room in a collective

366
00:27:32,640 --> 00:27:40,220
recital creates a real social pressure to conform, and proof of that was a quote we had

367
00:27:40,220 --> 00:27:45,080
during public comments tonight we always hear that no one's going to judge you

368
00:27:45,080 --> 00:27:51,880
forcing down and not or not saying the pledge but it was said I don't know who

369
00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:56,900
would do this it is very shameful to speak against it there's proof that if

370
00:27:56,900 --> 00:28:01,260
there's already judgment in this and we haven't even got to the point where there

371
00:28:01,260 --> 00:28:05,160
are people sitting down during the pledge so there's proof that people will be

372
00:28:05,160 --> 00:28:14,900
shamed for this. However, public meetings of the Board of Finance are government functions.

373
00:28:15,340 --> 00:28:20,440
People who object on principle, conscious or simple preference, should not have to choose

374
00:28:20,440 --> 00:28:26,500
between standing out or performing a ritual or reject. Board serves every resident and should

375
00:28:26,500 --> 00:28:31,500
not turn a traditional gesture into an informal litmus test of patriotism.

376
00:28:33,920 --> 00:28:34,820
Our legion is

377
00:28:34,820 --> 00:28:40,160
this town into this country is proven by doing the hard off, hard off and tedious financial work

378
00:28:40,160 --> 00:28:44,860
we're elected to do. I believe our oath of office already binds the board members to the

379
00:28:44,860 --> 00:28:50,240
Constitution and the Faithful Service. The pledge is an optional traditional gesture that some

380
00:28:50,240 --> 00:28:56,240
communities choose to retain for its symbolic value. As a veteran, it has zero impacts on my view

381
00:28:56,240 --> 00:29:01,580
of this town or the members of the community. I repeat that as a veteran and an active duty member,

382
00:29:01,580 --> 00:29:04,220
or I could care less if we said the Pledge of Allegiance.

383
00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:06,260
That is a personal choice between you

384
00:29:07,200 --> 00:29:09,400
and I don't know who that would be between.

385
00:29:09,740 --> 00:29:11,200
It's a personal choice on your own.

386
00:29:11,940 --> 00:29:13,440
It makes no difference as a veteran

387
00:29:13,440 --> 00:29:17,280
or an active service member to me whether you do it.

388
00:29:18,280 --> 00:29:20,500
Whether opening the meetings with any motivational words

389
00:29:20,500 --> 00:29:21,880
adds any civic meaning.

390
00:29:22,620 --> 00:29:24,660
But he just said this when I was trying to say it,

391
00:29:24,660 --> 00:29:25,160
but he said it.

392
00:29:25,160 --> 00:29:26,280
I think you said it last time

393
00:29:26,280 --> 00:29:27,260
and I stole it from you.

394
00:29:27,940 --> 00:29:28,360
Thank you.

395
00:29:30,320 --> 00:29:37,780
Whether opening the meeting with any motivational words adds any meaningful civic value to our meetings, this question we really can't answer.

396
00:29:38,760 --> 00:29:44,020
So no one on this board is arguing that the pledge is inherently harmful or that the communities who choose to retain it are wrong.

397
00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:51,760
I'm only arguing that it's not necessary here, and we don't need to recite 130 year old poem to prove that we are ready to do our jobs.

398
00:29:54,160 --> 00:29:54,760
Thank you.

399
00:29:57,470 --> 00:29:58,550
Thank you very much for our deep.

400
00:30:00,050 --> 00:30:03,430
And, aye, would you like to make any comments?

401
00:30:06,320 --> 00:30:08,320
Thanks for putting me after Brian, Brian.

402
00:30:10,640 --> 00:30:11,120
Honestly,

403
00:30:11,560 --> 00:30:19,100
I shared my position at the last meeting where this was discussed. I agree with Brian 100% about

404
00:30:19,100 --> 00:30:24,180
everything he said. They said for the fact that I am not a veteran, but my grandfather,

405
00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:30,000
my brother, my brother-in-law, and many family members were, have had this discussion with

406
00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:36,040
all of them. I can't say any more than what Brian said. I agree 100 percent.

407
00:30:39,910 --> 00:30:41,130
All right. Thank you, Pat.

408
00:30:43,440 --> 00:30:44,080
All right.

409
00:30:46,400 --> 00:30:50,640
So with that, you're currently, you know,

410
00:30:50,840 --> 00:30:57,400
forings of precedent and currently do not have this as, and I don't want to reoccurring

411
00:30:57,400 --> 00:30:59,680
agendas? Yes, can. Can

412
00:31:01,690 --> 00:31:07,610
I actually make a suggestion there? We don't take a thing. So we don't do it.

413
00:31:08,210 --> 00:31:12,230
Certainly can, yeah. Just don't vote. So I was going to say,

414
00:31:12,330 --> 00:31:16,770
offer up if anyone wants to make a motion, I'm not going to make a motion on the topic.

415
00:31:17,250 --> 00:31:18,090
I can make a motion.

416
00:31:21,230 --> 00:31:25,510
What's what you're thinking on that can is because we don't say it right now.

417
00:31:26,310 --> 00:31:30,010
We don't say it right now, but I'm

418
00:31:32,960 --> 00:31:39,820
looking at the controversy on both sides of this, and it shouldn't be the controversy that the town has over this.

419
00:31:40,800 --> 00:31:43,180
And I think this board of finance, we deal with money.

420
00:31:44,620 --> 00:31:46,780
And I know it hasn't done according

421
00:31:49,500 --> 00:31:52,840
to one of the emails that was not going all the way back to 1988.

422
00:31:54,620 --> 00:31:58,620
So it has had 46 years that hasn't been done in board finance.

423
00:31:59,990 --> 00:32:08,930
And why there's a controversy over this on both sides, that is not something that we

424
00:32:08,930 --> 00:32:12,270
do with dollars and cents, but that's why.

425
00:32:12,570 --> 00:32:17,650
And it's really, for the public to have the conversion of both sides, I really think

426
00:32:17,650 --> 00:32:23,570
the board should not invoke just say we're not going to vote on them, and just let it go

427
00:32:23,570 --> 00:32:23,890
like that.

428
00:32:23,970 --> 00:32:25,650
So we stand at that point of view.

429
00:32:27,150 --> 00:32:34,050
I would agree. I mean, moving forward, what if we're proposed with a moment of silence?

430
00:32:34,710 --> 00:32:38,810
What if we're proposed with playing the national anthem? What if someone wants to recite something

431
00:32:38,810 --> 00:32:45,850
else? This could go on and on and on. Right. I do, I am curious, that just not taking

432
00:32:45,850 --> 00:32:53,150
a vote would just end now. Right, we just, if I make a motion, a motion, we do not vote

433
00:32:53,150 --> 00:32:53,950
I

434
00:32:56,770 --> 00:33:04,950
think that it's a brilliant strategy on Ken's part that we not vote on this because we

435
00:33:04,950 --> 00:33:08,230
can rely on a long standing practice.

436
00:33:08,950 --> 00:33:14,790
Once we take a vote on it, it legitimizes the issue as being important enough for this

437
00:33:14,790 --> 00:33:22,750
board to consider it with emotion, and we don't need to, as Ken has pointed out, we're here

438
00:33:22,750 --> 00:33:30,250
to work on the finances of the town and it's somewhat shocking that we've had so much conversation

439
00:33:30,830 --> 00:33:36,590
from the public and out tonight. I'm a loss about this issue that's not an issue for us.

440
00:33:37,410 --> 00:33:45,410
We have a long-standing practice. We can rely on it and a paraphrase can. We should just move on

441
00:33:45,410 --> 00:33:49,970
and do the business that we're elected to do. I'm

442
00:33:55,020 --> 00:33:57,620
okay not taking a vote. I just

443
00:33:57,800 --> 00:34:01,920
Just to your point, though, Bob, I mean, we have passion to people in this town.

444
00:34:02,340 --> 00:34:07,500
And it doesn't matter whether it's finances or our forest select man or Florida education.

445
00:34:08,280 --> 00:34:11,700
There's passion to people and we have to respect that.

446
00:34:12,840 --> 00:34:17,540
And yeah, we're dealing with money, I mean, it says, got it on our dollar bills and everything.

447
00:34:17,860 --> 00:34:21,540
Now that it has anything directly to do with the pleasurable reasons, but you know what I'm saying.

448
00:34:21,540 --> 00:34:24,120
Okay, I'm okay, not taking a vote.

449
00:34:24,600 --> 00:34:30,400
I think one thing that just popped in my head is, you know, there could be an occasion

450
00:34:30,400 --> 00:34:33,920
where a resident gets up and speaks in their two minutes or three minutes and they're

451
00:34:33,920 --> 00:34:35,140
going to say the pleasure of allegiance.

452
00:34:36,220 --> 00:34:36,940
So be it.

453
00:34:37,560 --> 00:34:39,660
And we can react to that accordingly.

454
00:34:40,240 --> 00:34:43,240
So I'll do whatever this board wants to do.

455
00:34:43,440 --> 00:34:43,960
And not vote.

456
00:34:44,640 --> 00:34:45,440
I don't care.

457
00:34:46,360 --> 00:34:48,900
I was happy to listen to everyone's food point tonight though.

458
00:34:48,900 --> 00:34:50,120
but a lot of it made sense.

459
00:34:51,280 --> 00:34:53,340
I just want to make sure we don't take a vote

460
00:34:53,340 --> 00:34:54,100
to not vote.

461
00:34:56,420 --> 00:34:57,720
Let's just move on.

462
00:34:57,880 --> 00:34:59,080
Let's move to the agenda.

463
00:34:59,720 --> 00:35:01,440
I think everybody said the opportunity

464
00:35:01,440 --> 00:35:03,180
to speak through piece

465
00:35:04,320 --> 00:35:06,000
and say a lot of sense.

466
00:35:06,640 --> 00:35:07,180
That's a lot of different.

467
00:35:07,640 --> 00:35:08,880
We're just being clarified.

468
00:35:09,900 --> 00:35:11,680
So be correct, you know, can you ask

469
00:35:12,340 --> 00:35:14,780
for a vote to be made?

470
00:35:15,520 --> 00:35:16,220
I did not.

471
00:35:16,420 --> 00:35:17,860
There's no vote on the agenda.

472
00:35:17,860 --> 00:35:29,900
If we want to make this illegal, he can pass it for so many a second and nobody seconds it and then we don't have to deal with it.

473
00:35:31,300 --> 00:35:32,520
I'm not making a motion.

474
00:35:34,960 --> 00:35:36,780
I just stand corrected.

475
00:35:37,220 --> 00:35:44,480
I don't think it's up to us to be able to vote, yes or no, whether we allow someone to say 31 words or not say 31.

476
00:35:44,480 --> 00:35:49,300
right. It doesn't matter what those words are. They have three minutes and there you will be

477
00:35:49,300 --> 00:35:54,260
correct. Someone wants to stand up and recite the Wiccan Bible. They could do that if they

478
00:35:54,260 --> 00:35:57,680
don't question. I know. It sounds crazy. They know it doesn't.

479
00:36:00,200 --> 00:36:05,780
But I'll tell you, my favorite part of this board is the public comments. The rest of it's pretty

480
00:36:05,780 --> 00:36:06,060
boring.

481
00:36:08,580 --> 00:36:13,660
I love it. I love it. But I do. I love watching people exercise their rights.

482
00:36:13,660 --> 00:36:20,740
It's wonderful and that's why we're here and the restricts someone from doing that or not restricting them is

483
00:36:20,740 --> 00:36:22,740
Probably, it's not our fault.

484
00:36:22,840 --> 00:36:25,280
I mean that point to defend us.

485
00:36:25,540 --> 00:36:27,820
They actually defend the board.

486
00:36:29,200 --> 00:36:31,040
That's what my comments in that.

487
00:36:32,720 --> 00:36:33,840
I'm talking about that.

488
00:36:34,040 --> 00:36:37,630
All right. Well received.

489
00:36:38,490 --> 00:36:42,650
All right. So not hearing any motions being made will move on in our agenda.

490
00:36:42,650 --> 00:36:52,510
And I thank everyone for their comments this evening, and we will proceed to, next item is the Board of Education Monthly Report.

491
00:36:52,690 --> 00:37:00,410
As you can see, they are not here. We are going to receive our monthly report in your end numbers from the Board of the next month. So, stay tuned for that.

492
00:37:01,310 --> 00:37:15,650
You know, it had to do with, they were asking for some money, then they cited the playgrounds, and they were going to do it for themselves.

493
00:37:17,960 --> 00:37:19,000
You know what they did that?

494
00:37:19,460 --> 00:37:21,320
So did they do it already?

495
00:37:21,320 --> 00:37:23,440
because I went down to Cherrybrook.

496
00:37:24,040 --> 00:37:27,720
I was in the school,

497
00:37:28,520 --> 00:37:29,460
taking the money,

498
00:37:30,000 --> 00:37:32,120
and repairing the playgrounds

499
00:37:32,120 --> 00:37:34,120
at Cherrybrook in the immediate school.

500
00:37:35,300 --> 00:37:37,340
Because one of the playground equipment

501
00:37:37,340 --> 00:37:39,520
at Cherrybrook has tape bottle over it,

502
00:37:39,740 --> 00:37:41,480
but it's shred.

503
00:37:42,880 --> 00:37:43,940
It's not blocking.

504
00:37:44,540 --> 00:37:45,020
So it's like,

505
00:37:45,580 --> 00:37:48,000
I want to ask the Danielsville Pugh's here,

506
00:37:48,120 --> 00:37:48,660
if that's what happened.

507
00:37:49,760 --> 00:37:51,420
Mark, I don't know if you know anything about that.

508
00:37:51,420 --> 00:37:55,680
I do. They're still working on that issue.

509
00:37:57,950 --> 00:38:05,070
You know, it's my knowledge they have not. There's been no repairs. There's been just discussion on the financing.

510
00:38:05,070 --> 00:38:15,570
I met with Kevin Wiccoz and Elizabeth Windsor and he and Robbins and Jordan Grossman.

511
00:38:16,390 --> 00:38:32,270
Today, didn't there still working out preliminary approaches within their undesignated CIP and then other line item accounts to see if there's money to

512
00:38:32,270 --> 00:38:34,930
to take a look at making that purchase,

513
00:38:35,150 --> 00:38:37,610
just as they were directed to by another finance.

514
00:38:38,090 --> 00:38:40,370
Okay, I just want to point this out.

515
00:38:41,170 --> 00:38:43,930
I don't know if the shredding is done by a man's person

516
00:38:43,930 --> 00:38:47,930
or some kids, if that piece of equipment is still

517
00:38:49,010 --> 00:38:52,750
not safe for the kids, it's very accessible to them

518
00:38:52,750 --> 00:38:55,250
because all the taste and shredder, the yellow tape,

519
00:38:56,070 --> 00:38:57,610
around that piece of equipment at church, right?

520
00:38:58,770 --> 00:39:00,710
So it's like, I was gonna have to look

521
00:39:15,070 --> 00:39:24,650
I don't know what the police take looks like, but tomorrow I'll go take a look myself. I know that's the way it is over at the intermediate school event.

522
00:39:26,650 --> 00:39:30,690
I'm absolutely so to my knowledge they then fenced off. I don't know what the police take looks like, but tomorrow I'll go take a look myself.

523
00:39:30,690 --> 00:39:36,370
order to fence it so that we're not looking at liability issues. But I don't have

524
00:39:36,370 --> 00:39:39,130
firsthand knowledge of what's going on at Cherry Book. I'll take them to you.

525
00:39:39,350 --> 00:39:44,410
We do have shared annuals on in the meeting. So, I'll have to speak to the whole

526
00:39:44,410 --> 00:39:50,710
sale line. Yes. It wasn't where the online game has got to be in some.

527
00:39:51,070 --> 00:39:51,950
Go back on to the Microsoft book.

528
00:39:55,680 --> 00:39:58,740
I mean, the regional part of that question was

529
00:39:58,740 --> 00:40:05,780
the financial part because of what I saw from a little shock sale, taken part on. That means

530
00:40:06,560 --> 00:40:14,020
I couldn't have accessable to the kids. Yeah, ten. You're right. There was tape on the equipment,

531
00:40:16,420 --> 00:40:24,760
and through the weather, the tape probably needs to be reinforced. Just so you know, the equipment

532
00:40:24,760 --> 00:40:27,520
that was ordered, the playgrounds will be repaired,

533
00:40:27,860 --> 00:40:30,920
probably sometime in September and in September.

534
00:40:31,360 --> 00:40:34,360
We're still working through the funds component,

535
00:40:34,600 --> 00:40:36,960
is CAO Penny had mentioned.

536
00:40:37,820 --> 00:40:42,840
And we think that there may be someone in the CIP area

537
00:40:42,840 --> 00:40:46,760
of unused projects, it would help offset that number

538
00:40:46,760 --> 00:40:48,040
but we'll know better.

539
00:40:51,910 --> 00:40:53,230
Thank you, thank you.

540
00:40:53,770 --> 00:40:55,230
It wasn't, I didn't get it's concerns,

541
00:40:55,230 --> 00:41:01,650
was like, you know, the money spent the tapes there, the equipment's successful over the kids.

542
00:41:02,750 --> 00:41:08,350
And that's what I was looking at. And I didn't know if the money was spent or some kids

543
00:41:09,330 --> 00:41:13,530
or the tape on. Okay, thank you, Bill. Just let me know.

544
00:41:15,210 --> 00:41:21,490
Yeah, thank you, Ken. So, you know, in terms of, you know, our board's role, you know,

545
00:41:21,490 --> 00:41:27,470
we that discussion was on the agenda for last meeting and then we removed it to the prior discussion

546
00:41:27,470 --> 00:41:30,470
about how that should be handled and that's going to be moving money around in our approved

547
00:41:30,470 --> 00:41:36,890
function to write for those expenses. I do expect that they will report to us where that might get

548
00:41:36,890 --> 00:41:40,090
moved from to fund those expenses that are next meeting.

549
00:41:42,610 --> 00:41:51,470
And in the same vein as that, you may

550
00:41:51,470 --> 00:41:55,670
is willing to be retiring at the end of this next year.

551
00:41:57,450 --> 00:42:00,930
And he will, so the executive search

552
00:42:00,930 --> 00:42:03,790
for our next superintendent is gonna cost some money.

553
00:42:04,370 --> 00:42:07,970
And so I believe the same, you know, advice

554
00:42:07,970 --> 00:42:09,730
that we gave them on playground equipment

555
00:42:09,730 --> 00:42:12,470
that is to find somewhere within their budget

556
00:42:12,470 --> 00:42:16,770
to move money around to finance that executive search.

557
00:42:17,430 --> 00:42:19,650
So you surely hear more about that as well

558
00:42:19,650 --> 00:42:20,950
from the board to put it in our next meeting.

559
00:42:22,990 --> 00:42:23,710
I was going to say so.

560
00:42:23,830 --> 00:42:24,750
All right.

561
00:42:24,910 --> 00:42:27,250
Board of minutes was not something on our agenda for this month.

562
00:42:27,490 --> 00:42:30,730
So I will move forward with over to.

563
00:42:31,630 --> 00:42:32,350
Forward Zoe.

564
00:42:32,590 --> 00:42:33,910
We did get a.

565
00:42:35,810 --> 00:42:36,570
So the.

566
00:42:38,530 --> 00:42:40,730
Before we move to the monthly reports from the town.

567
00:42:40,850 --> 00:42:43,190
Was there any board of select with updates referrals?

568
00:42:43,190 --> 00:42:45,050
I don't see anything on the agenda.

569
00:42:45,630 --> 00:42:45,930
Okay.

570
00:42:46,770 --> 00:42:47,330
All right.

571
00:42:47,330 --> 00:42:55,530
So we did receive the preliminary year end results, Zoe, about six o'clock today.

572
00:42:55,910 --> 00:43:00,810
So no one's really had a chance to review these. So we'll do like just a brief,

573
00:43:01,150 --> 00:43:06,770
you know, if you have any initial questions, so we can give us any initial information she would

574
00:43:06,770 --> 00:43:15,130
like and we'll dive into it in more depth next month as well. Zoe? Sure, yeah. So these are all very

575
00:43:15,130 --> 00:43:22,730
preliminary. The packet was put together last minute just because these year-end

576
00:43:22,730 --> 00:43:27,170
numbers are very tedious. It takes tons of journal entries and I don't want to

577
00:43:27,170 --> 00:43:31,870
report on anything that I'm not 100% positive up. So I'm just going to

578
00:43:31,870 --> 00:43:38,230
prop us this by saying these numbers will change. I'm also reporting year-end

579
00:43:38,230 --> 00:43:43,610
numbers at the August 26th quarter-selection meeting. These numbers will

580
00:43:43,610 --> 00:43:47,670
will probably change by the time that I report on them

581
00:43:47,670 --> 00:43:49,290
at that meeting, and then again after.

582
00:43:49,710 --> 00:43:57,550
So, all right, so I did not include revenues in this report.

583
00:43:57,710 --> 00:43:58,810
This is just expenditures.

584
00:43:59,810 --> 00:44:07,380
So this is the approved spending and happy to report

585
00:44:07,380 --> 00:44:13,620
that as of right now, we are in a, just the town.

586
00:44:13,620 --> 00:44:21,080
This is not including the board of ed. We're going to have $170,000 surplus, so I can go

587
00:44:21,080 --> 00:44:29,000
up or down, but as of right now, we're looking pretty good. So I'll go through these pretty

588
00:44:29,000 --> 00:44:36,600
quickly. If anybody has any questions, just stop me. So on page two of the packet, you'll

589
00:44:36,600 --> 00:44:43,180
see just an overview of the expenditures, the numbers on the left side are from

590
00:44:43,180 --> 00:44:47,560
physical 25, just in our comparison, and the numbers on the right side are

591
00:44:47,560 --> 00:44:49,000
physical 26 numbers.

592
00:44:51,940 --> 00:44:59,880
So for general government, really, the only kind of things

593
00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:05,980
To note, there are overall, we came in at about a $16,000 surplus.

594
00:45:08,700 --> 00:45:10,100
Pretty much the main reason

595
00:45:10,100 --> 00:45:17,640
for that is because we did have a large surplus in the town council line item. Now, we budget

596
00:45:17,640 --> 00:45:26,600
$57,000 and only ended up spending about $26,000. And then our IT line is about $16,000

597
00:45:26,600 --> 00:45:32,740
in a deficit and that is because we were paying full for our new website and to keep our old website

598
00:45:32,740 --> 00:45:39,740
running and we had a contract with them. So we were kind of double-pit there with our website.

599
00:45:42,480 --> 00:45:48,960
Finance came in and wrote a $22,000 deficit. Sorry, surplus.

600
00:45:51,080 --> 00:45:53,560
Moving on to public safety.

601
00:45:58,000 --> 00:46:06,220
we did go into a deficit a little bit on our communication dispatch line item. That

602
00:46:06,220 --> 00:46:07,440
was due to overtime.

603
00:46:10,860 --> 00:46:16,080
Then I will touch on paper call. We budgeted $170,000 for paper

604
00:46:16,080 --> 00:46:25,780
call and year-to-date fiscal 26 became in at $139,000, $245, so

605
00:46:27,960 --> 00:46:30,180
that's a fine number.

606
00:46:35,160 --> 00:46:35,800
Public

607
00:46:35,800 --> 00:46:44,180
work is really our only section that came in under a deficit, and I would say that is primarily due

608
00:46:44,180 --> 00:46:50,720
to the winter that we had, we had about $60,000 worth of overtime due to the amount of storms

609
00:46:50,720 --> 00:46:54,740
that we had. So that is the reason for that.

610
00:46:58,400 --> 00:47:00,840
Human services again came in at a surplus,

611
00:47:02,300 --> 00:47:04,460
planning and development came in at a surplus.

612
00:47:06,620 --> 00:47:11,820
Under insurance we did have a $9,900 deficit

613
00:47:12,340 --> 00:47:17,440
and then is mostly due to the amount of unemployment that we paid out in the last fiscal year.

614
00:47:17,440 --> 00:47:18,380
range

615
00:47:22,190 --> 00:47:28,090
of benefits. The bottom line kind of broke pretty even. We did have a

616
00:47:28,090 --> 00:47:32,230
little bit of an overage on fake social security. That's just because we did.

617
00:47:33,690 --> 00:47:37,790
Well, we're the amount of employees we had during fiscal 26. And then our

618
00:47:37,790 --> 00:47:40,650
attention is just about my

619
00:47:44,680 --> 00:47:45,020
daughter.

620
00:47:47,180 --> 00:47:52,340
I wanted to ask you a question. I'm sorry that

621
00:47:52,340 --> 00:47:53,980
That's the way I got your judgment.

622
00:47:56,160 --> 00:47:59,700
Did you get the renewal for the medical insurance for next year?

623
00:48:02,350 --> 00:48:04,850
It's both 28 or for the year we're in right now.

624
00:48:07,810 --> 00:48:08,970
20 sets, 27.

625
00:48:09,690 --> 00:48:11,550
Yes, yeah, the increase was 20 percent.

626
00:48:11,890 --> 00:48:12,750
It was 20 percent.

627
00:48:13,250 --> 00:48:16,330
Do you know what the industry average was for renewal?

628
00:48:16,910 --> 00:48:26,030
I do not, the top of my head, but I know we are in a little bit of a different situation

629
00:48:26,030 --> 00:48:33,470
just because our self-insurance reserve fund had gotten hit so hard that we didn't have enough

630
00:48:33,470 --> 00:48:40,390
in it. So we are kind of trying to build that reserve back up. Therefore we have to budget a little

631
00:48:40,390 --> 00:48:48,750
bit more so that we do have a safety net. Into the count of self-insured, so 20% would be rather large

632
00:48:48,750 --> 00:48:57,610
number for renewal. Correct? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Peg is our representative on the insurance

633
00:48:57,610 --> 00:49:03,550
committee, some committee, so if she, if she's still on, I have some insight into that if you want

634
00:49:03,550 --> 00:49:12,670
to ask. Correct. Yeah. I can speak to that briefly if you'd like, Brian. Yeah, please,

635
00:49:15,130 --> 00:49:24,370
So Bob to answer your question, I believe the average increase on renewal is 12 to 14% was, you know, for last year.

636
00:49:25,270 --> 00:49:30,350
I don't have that number in front of me, but so I'm going from memory. I may be off by a percentage or two.

637
00:49:30,350 --> 00:49:43,670
And as Zoe said, our reserve funds, which are typically what we keep in reserve for high-cost

638
00:49:43,670 --> 00:49:54,230
claims that do not qualify at our pooling point for stop loss, that's what we need to have

639
00:49:54,230 --> 00:50:03,710
in balance for, in case we have claims that run over what we're covered for.

640
00:50:07,570 --> 00:50:16,310
We had a couple of years, 23, 24, 24, 25, where we significantly depleted that balance.

641
00:50:16,730 --> 00:50:21,530
The target balance is around 1.2 to 1.5 million.

642
00:50:21,530 --> 00:50:26,490
in. We were a couple of years ago in like the 300 to $400,000 range.

643
00:50:27,870 --> 00:50:33,730
The good news is our claims for last year ran under what they had been in prior years.

644
00:50:33,970 --> 00:50:45,790
So we had a good year. A lot of that is luck and planning. And we looked at a number of

645
00:50:45,790 --> 00:50:51,350
alternatives including stopping being self-insured and going back to a traditional

646
00:50:52,050 --> 00:51:00,670
indemnity plan. While that is something that we could consider, because we were in a contract

647
00:51:00,670 --> 00:51:05,010
with United Health Care, we entered into a three-year contract with United Health Care.

648
00:51:05,510 --> 00:51:10,290
There would be some penalties that we would pay plus run-out on our claims,

649
00:51:10,870 --> 00:51:19,010
so that we'd make it fiscally not advantageous for us to do that. So for all of those reasons,

650
00:51:19,010 --> 00:51:33,350
We're staying the course where we are, that 20% renewal rate with the goal of if we continue to have favorability on our claims running somewhat under what we're reserving, we would be able to build that reserve backup.

651
00:51:34,150 --> 00:51:41,570
And at that point we could consider reducing our increase, you know, based on where we are with claims.

652
00:51:41,570 --> 00:51:46,530
And we also have the ability to make changes to the plan, and we're looking at that.

653
00:51:46,790 --> 00:51:55,730
We're entering negotiations with our unions, and there will be discussions around how

654
00:51:55,730 --> 00:52:01,730
we can improve by doing more generics for pharmaceuticals and that sort of thing.

655
00:52:01,850 --> 00:52:06,570
So there's a lot of options on the table that will enable us to potentially see savings in

656
00:52:06,570 --> 00:52:16,070
long-term. We are bound by our negotiations. I believe our members of our insurance committee

657
00:52:16,070 --> 00:52:22,710
will be able to participate in those negotiations. So there's a lot of variables right now, but

658
00:52:22,710 --> 00:52:28,650
we're still, as Zoe said, recovering from a few very, very bad years that put us in financially,

659
00:52:28,650 --> 00:52:29,650
to leave very bad shape.

660
00:52:30,670 --> 00:52:33,530
And as, again, if we don't have the reserves,

661
00:52:34,850 --> 00:52:36,990
we go to our fund balance.

662
00:52:37,750 --> 00:52:41,250
So there's no good answer

663
00:52:41,250 --> 00:52:45,770
if our claims run over what we have reserved for,

664
00:52:46,050 --> 00:52:46,910
it costs the town.

665
00:52:51,720 --> 00:52:52,120
Thanks for that.

666
00:53:01,380 --> 00:53:04,060
Okay, so then that brings us down to the last line

667
00:53:04,060 --> 00:53:08,320
on the first page and that is the town wide budget.

668
00:53:08,320 --> 00:53:12,300
from again, it does sort of less of $172,400, $45.

669
00:53:15,650 --> 00:53:18,030
The next page just shows our CIP,

670
00:53:18,490 --> 00:53:20,710
which is just a budget allocation.

671
00:53:20,890 --> 00:53:24,950
We go on the amount of client that our capital recruitment

672
00:53:24,950 --> 00:53:27,650
account fund at the beginning of the year,

673
00:53:27,810 --> 00:53:29,030
and then I just make the allocation,

674
00:53:29,230 --> 00:53:30,830
and that those funds go into that account.

675
00:53:33,280 --> 00:53:34,860
Then we have the Board of Finance budget,

676
00:53:35,000 --> 00:53:37,600
which is really just the budget of mailer,

677
00:53:37,680 --> 00:53:41,800
our auditor fees, and our debt service payments.

678
00:53:41,800 --> 00:53:45,160
and our debt service payments are not negotiable,

679
00:53:45,160 --> 00:53:46,240
really, we have to pay those.

680
00:53:47,040 --> 00:53:49,880
So really, the only overage on the board of finance budget

681
00:53:49,880 --> 00:53:53,300
was for

682
00:53:55,440 --> 00:53:58,460
that budget meeller and Auditor Fees.

683
00:54:00,120 --> 00:54:02,440
I don't know why the Auditor Fees are over.

684
00:54:02,780 --> 00:54:07,730
Maybe the budget amount is just set a little bit under,

685
00:54:08,170 --> 00:54:10,830
but it's only a $1,200 variance there.

686
00:54:13,640 --> 00:54:14,700
Any questions on that?

687
00:54:16,760 --> 00:54:23,080
The budget mailer. I mean, the one we sent out this year was not glossy paper or anything.

688
00:54:23,380 --> 00:54:28,180
It was pretty flimsy. And we still went over by a lot. Is that just like to cost the mailing

689
00:54:28,180 --> 00:54:34,800
cost like those dishes? They cost one out, yeah. Yeah, okay. So have we, I don't remember increasing

690
00:54:34,800 --> 00:54:39,700
that budget for this current fiscal year? So we're going to run it the same issue.

691
00:54:39,700 --> 00:54:43,580
I can share, I can see if I increased it accordingly.

692
00:54:44,160 --> 00:54:46,100
Okay, but I don't need to know right now.

693
00:54:46,340 --> 00:54:50,020
I'm just curious, now in the bottom line for board of finance,

694
00:54:50,020 --> 00:54:54,820
does it show us a surplus or is that just from the overall town?

695
00:54:56,260 --> 00:54:57,680
The bottom line is.

696
00:54:57,980 --> 00:55:03,900
I'm running to a little bit over, so we can have a little bit over, kind of like it.

697
00:55:07,290 --> 00:55:10,190
The next page is our special revenue update.

698
00:55:12,910 --> 00:55:20,870
All right, so I will just kind of go through and say what the change in fund balance was for each special revenue fund.

699
00:55:22,850 --> 00:55:31,290
For Parks and Rag, they came in at a deficit. Their fund balance at the beginning of the year was about 117,000.

700
00:55:31,650 --> 00:55:38,710
Their deficit was around 13,000, so that will decrease their fund balance to about 104,000.

701
00:55:42,310 --> 00:55:52,850
I did, I tried to look at it a little bit before I came, but is that, do you know if that's due to, is there primarily a revenue issue or primarily an expensive issue?

702
00:55:55,740 --> 00:55:59,120
That's just the way I'll this year.

703
00:55:59,620 --> 00:56:02,460
Yeah, it was looking at the details on this.

704
00:56:02,520 --> 00:56:06,420
It looks like the park, this is the park and Rick special revenue.

705
00:56:06,800 --> 00:56:11,720
We read the numbers here, it looks like it's $93,000 less than the budget, it is that correct.

706
00:56:14,460 --> 00:56:15,020
There is this.

707
00:56:16,120 --> 00:56:17,280
Yes, yeah.

708
00:56:18,020 --> 00:56:23,640
That was the, but they estimate how much they're going to take in for program fees, swimming lessons.

709
00:56:24,900 --> 00:56:26,680
The concession stands.

710
00:56:27,140 --> 00:56:30,520
And they took in almost $100,000 less than I thought they were going to come.

711
00:56:30,520 --> 00:56:39,560
I'm just curious. The program fees are all of that. I guess do we know that? It's a huge

712
00:56:39,560 --> 00:56:46,800
reduction this year of people who didn't program. I'm not sure. I do know that these special

713
00:56:46,800 --> 00:56:54,520
revenue budgets are simply just got it lines. So it's not like the town voted on it and

714
00:56:54,520 --> 00:56:59,680
that's what they expected. I think we just kind of set them as guidelines as an expectation

715
00:56:59,680 --> 00:57:06,220
of what we could collect, but yeah, that is definitely

716
00:57:06,220 --> 00:57:07,100
a good one.

717
00:57:07,400 --> 00:57:08,960
It is.

718
00:57:09,260 --> 00:57:12,640
And I'm, you know, my time at Marx and Marx, I'm curious, just because the program

719
00:57:12,640 --> 00:57:16,180
I'm going to come in will usually be substantial and generally more than expensive.

720
00:57:17,440 --> 00:57:20,820
So that's why I was wondering if maybe they spent a bunch of money on something,

721
00:57:20,960 --> 00:57:22,640
and I just wasn't aware of that.

722
00:57:22,800 --> 00:57:24,720
If you wouldn't mind, maybe you could pour the next feed in.

723
00:57:25,640 --> 00:57:26,080
Yeah, I cannot.

724
00:57:26,080 --> 00:57:27,480
I don't think it was quick narrative.

725
00:57:28,240 --> 00:57:28,360
Sorry.

726
00:57:36,860 --> 00:57:42,080
WPCA, the, their beginning year fund balance was approximately 1.3 million.

727
00:57:42,760 --> 00:57:48,320
They ended the year with a $544,000 surplus.

728
00:57:48,960 --> 00:57:52,860
And that will increase their fund balance to approximately 1.9 million.

729
00:57:55,840 --> 00:57:58,120
WPCA funds all of their own projects.

730
00:57:58,360 --> 00:58:03,000
And I know Jonathan Minsky has a number of projects coming up.

731
00:58:03,000 --> 00:58:09,660
in your future. So that is why the fund balance is so high. And he's adding to it every year.

732
00:58:10,320 --> 00:58:12,020
Good. They're going to need it.

733
00:58:15,990 --> 00:58:21,150
Is that the form of higher rates or what? Or is that just standard rates?

734
00:58:26,180 --> 00:58:28,560
I believe he increased the rates already.

735
00:58:31,550 --> 00:58:38,110
It just the net change just is a result of the

736
00:58:38,110 --> 00:58:44,430
revenues you took in less what you spent. So I think maybe he's just budgeting higher

737
00:58:44,430 --> 00:58:48,210
revenues and spending less so that he knows that he's going to add to his fund balance

738
00:58:48,210 --> 00:58:50,010
so that he's prepared for the future projects.

739
00:58:55,510 --> 00:58:59,330
But yeah, WPCA has their own budget and they

740
00:58:59,330 --> 00:59:09,130
vote on it separately. So sewer assessment, yes. sewer assessment started the year with a fund

741
00:59:09,130 --> 00:59:12,690
of balance approximately 350,000.

742
00:59:12,750 --> 00:59:17,050
They're here to date revenues for approximately 356,000.

743
00:59:19,830 --> 00:59:22,730
The year to date expenditures are just that clean water

744
00:59:22,730 --> 00:59:24,430
loan that we pay off every single year.

745
00:59:25,390 --> 00:59:30,850
And so they ended the year with a surplus of about 278,000.

746
00:59:31,050 --> 00:59:34,770
We'll increase their fund balance to 634,000.

747
00:59:37,040 --> 00:59:39,060
Those are just the sewer connection fees.

748
00:59:39,060 --> 00:59:45,020
The more buildings that they put up and apartment complexes that they're building, that increases

749
00:59:45,020 --> 00:59:49,980
those two connection fees significantly, so that's why this year is so much higher than

750
00:59:49,980 --> 00:59:50,520
last year.

751
00:59:52,730 --> 00:59:59,730
EMS, this is always a kind of problem.

752
01:00:00,000 --> 01:00:12,300
Special revenue fund, they typically run into a deficit, it's because they don't carry a fund balance. It's the town's responsibility that if they do end in a deficit, we have to fund them and bring them back up to zero.

753
01:00:14,520 --> 01:00:29,980
So I'm happy to report that they did not end the year in a deficit. Their year-to-date revenues are currently about 1.1 million. And their year-to-date expenditures are about 1,060,000.

754
01:00:32,240 --> 01:00:36,480
So that is a fund that is still constantly moving.

755
01:00:36,800 --> 01:00:44,600
We have more revenues coming in just due to the fact that if an incident occurred in June,

756
01:00:45,500 --> 01:00:48,460
that still qualifies as fiscal 26 revenue.

757
01:00:48,940 --> 01:00:53,720
So people that are still making payments in August, we put that revenue back to fiscal 26.

758
01:00:54,240 --> 01:00:56,800
So that's going to change until we fully close the books.

759
01:01:00,320 --> 01:01:02,920
So I'll report more on that at a later date.

760
01:01:05,400 --> 01:01:07,720
The transfer station has a fund balance

761
01:01:07,720 --> 01:01:10,600
at the beginning of the year of approximately 26,000.

762
01:01:11,360 --> 01:01:15,560
They ended the year with about $9,000 surplus.

763
01:01:15,940 --> 01:01:19,520
So that will increase their fund balance to about 35,000.

764
01:01:25,250 --> 01:01:27,010
And their fund balance is a little bit low.

765
01:01:27,390 --> 01:01:29,950
I believe it used to be around 50,000.

766
01:01:30,130 --> 01:01:32,490
And then, I think

767
01:01:35,950 --> 01:01:38,710
that brought it down.

768
01:01:38,710 --> 01:01:43,570
so it's good to see us ending the year in a surplus and slowly starting to build up back up.

769
01:01:47,180 --> 01:01:50,020
Transfer station 400 runs as long as it's one dollar

770
01:01:51,620 --> 01:01:56,900
favorite town that's good. I need to say it that way but yeah.

771
01:01:59,180 --> 01:02:04,560
So all of the details behind that is in the packet so if you have any questions about

772
01:02:04,560 --> 01:02:06,720
on the event and look there or send me the e-mails.

773
01:02:08,730 --> 01:02:10,070
I don't get the e-mails send.

774
01:02:13,220 --> 01:02:16,680
All right, and then I just added a little additional

775
01:02:16,680 --> 01:02:21,360
information on our opioid funds, our NIP funds,

776
01:02:21,460 --> 01:02:23,340
our cannabis revenue, and accounting

777
01:02:23,340 --> 01:02:28,000
bros just because this is not going to change.

778
01:02:29,400 --> 01:02:29,880
So

779
01:02:32,380 --> 01:02:36,380
total amount of opioid funds we have to year to two day,

780
01:02:36,680 --> 01:02:38,100
not year to date, but in total.

781
01:02:38,100 --> 01:02:49,680
is $86,096 and 77 cents. We recently approved that a Lucas device be purchased, so that

782
01:02:49,680 --> 01:02:54,760
leaves us with about 51,000 left in our opioid funds, and we are still actively looking

783
01:02:54,760 --> 01:02:56,280
for things to spend those funds on.

784
01:02:58,980 --> 01:03:04,920
The NIFS funds, we started the year with about $13,900

785
01:03:04,920 --> 01:03:14,000
dollars in there. Throughout fiscal 26 we received $15,400 in revenue and throughout the year we

786
01:03:14,000 --> 01:03:24,440
sent $17,794. We sent that on a street sweeper rental and catch basin cleaning. So that

787
01:03:24,440 --> 01:03:29,420
we just went about $11,600 left over. And that does carry into the next year.

788
01:03:32,260 --> 01:03:39,400
Canada's year-to-date revenues for fiscal 26 are 93,265 dollars and 73 cents.

789
01:03:40,040 --> 01:03:44,480
We have not yet received our May and June payments, so that number will change for

790
01:03:44,480 --> 01:03:45,340
fiscal 26.

791
01:03:47,840 --> 01:03:48,960
That's what we have so far.

792
01:03:49,520 --> 01:03:55,040
I think the same restrictions on the cannabis funds as they are on the opioid settlement

793
01:03:55,040 --> 01:03:55,540
funds.

794
01:03:56,060 --> 01:04:01,400
No, the cannabis funds are much more lean on what you can spend those on, yeah.

795
01:04:01,400 --> 01:04:04,800
Yeah, the opioid funds are really just for opioid remediation.

796
01:04:10,680 --> 01:04:21,420
And then, tummy growths, we received $339,192, that was fully spent, and I am working on

797
01:04:21,420 --> 01:04:29,860
the tummy growth reporting that is due on September 1st, and that sums up our pre-liminary year-end

798
01:04:29,860 --> 01:04:30,240
report.

799
01:04:31,420 --> 01:04:38,000
I didn't just want to highlight the ask for a sum of cannabis funds that we have budgeted

800
01:04:38,000 --> 01:04:45,540
out $150,000 of that current balance toward PLCB for this current fiscal year and has

801
01:04:45,540 --> 01:04:46,920
improved the most recent budget.

802
01:04:47,600 --> 01:04:53,060
So anyone who's listening and doesn't see the text, doesn't realize that we are, we do have

803
01:04:53,060 --> 01:04:55,740
a name tag on a good chunk of that fuel sponsor.

804
01:04:59,580 --> 01:05:00,260
Thank you, Zoe.

805
01:05:00,260 --> 01:05:09,250
All right. That was a good overview. As we wait the revenues and some final

806
01:05:09,930 --> 01:05:15,290
tallying, so we get some final numbers. You know, I encouraged the board a little

807
01:05:15,290 --> 01:05:18,950
myself. Continue to look over these numbers, go with questions for next meeting.

808
01:05:19,690 --> 01:05:26,050
You know, so we can wrap up that annual review and we will presumably get the

809
01:05:26,050 --> 01:05:30,590
board of ed's final numbers with enough time to review those numbers as well.

810
01:05:30,590 --> 01:05:31,370
Any

811
01:05:36,740 --> 01:05:39,100
additional questions comments before we move on?

812
01:05:42,390 --> 01:05:44,250
Make sure I was going to be here in September.

813
01:05:44,710 --> 01:05:45,190
Thank you.

814
01:05:45,790 --> 01:05:45,910
Good.

815
01:05:48,640 --> 01:05:49,340
All right.

816
01:05:51,840 --> 01:05:52,300
Here none.

817
01:05:52,600 --> 01:05:55,380
We'll move on to the last item, our agenda, which will be

818
01:05:55,380 --> 01:06:00,300
the approval of the minutes for our July meeting.

819
01:06:12,050 --> 01:06:13,070
Does anybody have a copy?

820
01:06:13,770 --> 01:06:15,210
Anybody have a copy of the movement?

821
01:06:16,170 --> 01:06:16,530
I don't.

822
01:06:17,530 --> 01:06:17,790
Okay.

823
01:06:17,970 --> 01:06:20,110
They were in the email that so we just sent out around

824
01:06:20,110 --> 01:06:26,570
six o'clock, so no one's really had a chance to renew them. All right, I have to

825
01:06:26,570 --> 01:06:27,230
abstain, I wasn't.

826
01:06:35,960 --> 01:06:40,740
For a seven o'clock meeting, they were posted online. I know what happened,

827
01:06:40,740 --> 01:06:43,120
that's right. We're moving them online.

828
01:06:45,280 --> 01:06:49,400
All right, let's pend that without any objection,

829
01:06:49,620 --> 01:06:54,160
we'll pend the approval of those minutes for our next meeting. I have no one a chance to

830
01:06:54,160 --> 01:07:02,580
to do that. For sure, he will show his office read my tablet and see why I'm not getting

831
01:07:02,580 --> 01:07:03,080
emails.

832
01:07:08,440 --> 01:07:13,860
Here are no objections depending on the next meeting. All right, so with that,

833
01:07:17,310 --> 01:07:23,490
that concludes our board of finance regular meeting for the night. Meeting is adjourned at 809.

834
01:07:23,490 --> 01:07:25,970
and we have time for more for the wife.

835
01:07:27,270 --> 01:07:27,950
Thank you.