[0:09] Good evening.

[0:10] This is the April 7th meeting of the finance committee.

[0:13] Let's start with a tech check. Can everybody online hear us?

[0:17] Get a thumbs up? Alright, I see Kat. See Bruce.

[0:21] All right, thank you very much.

[0:24] We, between the people in the room

[0:26] and online, we do have a quorum present,

[0:28] but let's start with a quick roll

[0:30] call. Dirk

[0:36] Here in person.

[0:37] David here From a remote

[0:40] Location.

[0:41] Undisclosed. Patricia.

[0:44] Present. I'm Zoom. Donna.

[0:46] Present Grace.

[0:49] Present remotely. Jean?

[0:52] Here Remotely. Kat?

[0:55] Here. Remotely. Julian? Present. Matt?

[1:01] Here. Richard? Here in person. Gary.

[1:08] Now I see Gary's joining,

[1:10] so he's at a Alright, we'll come back to that.

[1:12] And I'm here in person. So that's one.

[1:17] Looks like we have 12 to start.

[1:21] Alright, as I mentioned, this is the April 7th meeting

[1:26] of the finance committee.

[1:28] This meeting is being recorded

[1:30] and is being broadcast by Pegasus.

[1:36] Do we have any announcements? I have one quick one.

[1:39] If nothing else. We have a new member, Dr.

[1:42] Donna Mackenzie has joined us

[1:45] as a member of the finance committee. So welcome.

[1:48] Thank you very much. I look forward to working with you.

[1:51] Alright, we'll see what we can do about that.

[1:57] All. Any other announcements we

[1:59] Have ways?

[2:00] Any other announcements either from people

[2:03] online or in the room?

[2:06] All right. Scene. None.

[2:08] All right, we'll move on to public speak.

[2:10] Public speaks at a time at which an individual may raise an

[2:13] issue under the finance committee's purview

[2:15] that is not included on the agenda.

[2:16] Be taken under advisement.

[2:18] There'll be no opportunity for debate

[2:21] during this portion of the meeting.

[2:22] Section of the agenda is limited to 15 minutes

[2:25] and any individual addressing the committee

[2:28] will shall be limited to three minutes.

[2:30] Do we have anybody wishing for public speak this evening?

[2:34] Anybody in the room? Anybody online?

[2:39] All right, moving on.

[2:42] We have two items

[2:43] that we're hearing tonight under

[2:45] discussion decisions and votes.

[2:47] These should be the last two items

[2:49] that were taking up before town meeting.

[2:53] You want a motion to open the

[2:54] Hearing?

[2:55] Motion to open please. So moved.

[2:57] Second. Second. Okay. Roll call.

[2:59] Vote on opening the meeting. The public hearing rather Dirk.

[3:05] Aye. David?

[3:06] Aye. Patricia. Aye. Donna? Aye.

[3:10] Grace. Aye. Jean?

[3:13] Yes. Kat?

[3:15] Yes. Julian? Yes. Matt? Yes. Richard?

[3:19] Yes. Gary?

[3:24] He's not back yet.

[3:25] Alright. And I'm a Yes. Alright then.

[3:30] So the first item this evening is Article 14,

[3:35] which is an article to amend town bylaw article 50,

[3:39] section 50, section 16, which deals with animal control.

[3:44] We previously heard this

[3:46] and recommended a referral back to the sponsor

[3:49] so that they could work on it.

[3:52] They've done what we've asked. They've brought it back.

[3:55] So I'll take a motion to reconsider. So

[3:58] Moved.

[3:59] Second. Just a a point of order.

[4:03] Could we have a reading into the record of the initial vote?

[4:08] Used for a motion to reconsider, I think has to come from

[4:11] Yes.

[4:13] It was 13 0, 0. It, it, it was unanimous. Oh, okay.

[4:16] For referral. The next, the next one, the next one.

[4:19] That may become germane too,

[4:21] but we have somebody in the prevailing side

[4:24] that will make the motion In any case,

[4:26] I already think and I, I, I made the motion to refer

[4:30] and stated at the time

[4:32] that if it came back I'd be happy to make the motion to

[4:34] Reconsider.

[4:35] Well, even I can follow the, the math of 13 zero. So.

[4:39] Alright. Did we have a second on the motion

[4:41] to reconsider several?

[4:43] Okay. Alright then on the motion to reconsider article 14,

[4:48] Dirk Aye.

[4:50] David, David? No.

[4:56] Aye. Patricia. Aye.

[4:59] Donna Aye. Grace.

[5:02] Aye. Jean?

[5:04] Yes. Kat.

[5:05] Aye. Julian. Aye. Matt? Yes. Richard?

[5:09] Yes. Gary, you back? Yep.

[5:13] Hi. Yeah. Computer? Yep.

[5:15] No, we, we saw you rejoining, so, okay. And I'm, yes.

[5:19] Alright, so article 14, previous votes, previous discussions

[5:24] wiped away by Reconsiderations.

[5:26] So we're starting anew.

[5:31] Let me see if, since I'm kind of here on my,

[5:35] alright, let me share

[5:40] The screen.

[5:43] I,

[5:48] All right, this is the matter before us this evening

[5:55] and presenter this evening,

[5:59] or our who will answer our questions this evening is Chief

[6:03] Hicks welcome.

[6:06] Alright, has everybody on the committee had an opportunity

[6:09] to read through this revised article?

[6:14] I know a couple people have 'cause they made comments.

[6:18] So any questions

[6:21] or discussion? Dirk?

[6:24] Just one question.

[6:26] What process went

[6:31] into redoing this?

[6:32] And specifically has it been reviewed

[6:35] by our very busy legal counsel?

[6:38] Yes, they took town administration took our notes

[6:42] from the previous session.

[6:46] Town council came back with,

[6:50] it was probably 95% of what you see here.

[6:54] It got circulated amongst the committee members.

[6:58] One member had a couple of questions

[7:00] or had a couple suggestions.

[7:02] Those were sent back to administration and town council.

[7:06] Some things made it into the revision.

[7:08] Some things were not deemed that they wanted

[7:13] to make them, but it's been

[7:15] through town council a couple of times now.

[7:18] Thank you. I just wanted to get that on the record

[7:20] of our meeting and I'm, I'm very happy

[7:23] with the result and we'll support it.

[7:25] Okay. Other questions on Article 14

[7:29] as it's being reviewed

[7:30] and presented this evening. Richard,

[7:36] Are there any other towns that have passed?

[7:38] Similar ordinance?

[7:42] Yes. Almost every town has something similar around

[7:46] animal control, especially as it relates to licensing

[7:49] and also vaccination.

[7:51] Okay. It's mostly, it refers to mass General law.

[7:55] Okay. Thank you. Alright, additional questions?

[8:00] Anybody in the room? Any committee

[8:03] members online with questions?

[8:07] Any members of the public with questions?

[8:12] All right, I'll take motions.

[8:13] I'll move to recommend favorable action with regard

[8:16] to the subject matter of Article 14

[8:18] as presented at the April 7th, 2026 meeting.

[8:24] Second. Alright.

[8:26] Motion made and seconded for recommending favorable action.

[8:31] Any other motions? Seeing no hands

[8:37] discussion, debate.

[8:40] Good job. All around the,

[8:43] the intention was always well framed and,

[8:45] and well articulated by the animal control officer

[8:48] who presented before the, the previous presentation

[8:53] of language did not support

[8:56] that intention effectively.

[8:59] And this does and I, I'm happy to support it.

[9:03] Jillian, ditto

[9:06] On all that the committee had voiced

[9:10] its concerns and those concerns have been addressed

[9:15] and I'd like to thank everyone that made that possible.

[9:19] Both those on the committee that Synopsized

[9:23] and put that together and for administration

[9:26] and staff that made it be so

[9:32] Happy.

[9:33] I would note also just kudos to everybody who

[9:38] worked in a busy season for everybody leading up

[9:41] to town meeting to bring this back so

[9:44] that it could be done at this town meeting.

[9:46] Matt, I this is really more of a comment.

[9:49] I think I appreciate that, you know, a lot

[9:52] of the feedback was taken on this.

[9:55] I think this still reflects some just grammatical stuff

[9:58] that's not correct and my understanding of the response

[10:03] of town council was that certain things like

[10:07] singular plural mismatches

[10:08] that are still in the current existing one

[10:11] should not be made.

[10:12] And the basis for that that was presented to us was

[10:15] that the Attorney General had already approved it

[10:18] with those errors and therefore we should not change it.

[10:22] And I, I, my comment is just that my understanding

[10:25] of the Attorney General's review the scope of it

[10:28] and the point of it is about whether it's legal,

[10:30] not whether it's correct or whether it's a good policy idea.

[10:34] So I I would encourage, you know, all of us in the future

[10:37] to push back on that notion

[10:38] as a reason not to make the change.

[10:40] Yeah. I'm not gonna make a motion

[10:41] to amend it further tonight.

[10:43] I'm I'll, I'll support it, but it is still flawed.

[10:48] Thank you for that observation.

[10:51] Alright, anybody else with debate

[10:55] or discussion before we vote?

[10:58] See none. Alright.

[11:00] This will be a roll call vote

[11:01] to recommend favorable action on article on the subject

[11:05] matter of article 14. Dirk

[11:08] Aye David?

[11:11] Aye. Patricia. Aye. Donna Aye. Grace?

[11:16] Yes. Jean? Yes. Kat? Yes. Julian. Aye.

[11:21] Matt? Yes. Richard. Aye. Gary? Yes.

[11:25] And I a Yes. Passes unanimously. Thank you very much, chief.

[11:30] Thank you. And then thank the other committee

[11:31] for the opportunity to reconsider.

[11:33] Thank you for coming back. As we

[11:35] Said earlier, it was a learning experience.

[11:38] All right then next order of business is

[11:45] reconsideration of Article 17, the natural

[11:47] and synthetic Turf Field Study Group report.

[11:52] All right. I believe the sponsor

[11:56] is or representative of the sponsors online.

[11:59] Mr. Evans. Welcome.

[12:02] Thank you Mr. Chair. Alright.

[12:05] When last we met, we had no

[12:10] recommendation on the subject matter of Article 17.

[12:16] Part of that seemed to have been colored by

[12:22] debate and discussion that went fairly far afield of

[12:26] what our charge is.

[12:29] We're going to limit our questions

[12:33] to more within the bounds of what

[12:36] the finance committee should actually be inquiring about,

[12:39] which is whether

[12:41] or not the sponsor is

[12:47] properly before town meeting.

[12:49] Are they a body that can in fact report to town meeting?

[12:53] Do they feel that they will be ready when

[12:55] called to the floor?

[12:57] Is this the correct

[13:00] time town meeting from a timing standpoint to present,

[13:05] but we're not going to debate composition

[13:09] of report givers

[13:11] or contents of the reports and things like that.

[13:14] That's really a town meeting issue.

[13:16] And if we have, if any members have issues with contents

[13:21] of the report, that's really a town meeting, you know, go,

[13:24] go to town meeting and raise the issues

[13:26] and, you know, debate them, you know, in,

[13:30] in at the proper venue.

[13:32] So I'm going to make a motion for reconsideration.

[13:37] As was noted earlier, most,

[13:42] most of the rules of order require that somebody

[13:46] that was on the prevailing side of the previous vote

[13:52] has to make it, has to make the motion for reconsideration.

[13:56] I was one of the seven that voted in favor, so

[14:00] I'm making the motion to reconsider and I'll second.

[14:04] Okay, well just on the prevailing side.

[14:09] Okay. On the majority side, since we,

[14:12] since there's a quantum of eight that's required.

[14:15] There, there has been no prevailing side. Right. But okay.

[14:18] On the majority side, I was, I was in the,

[14:22] the most numerous votes side

[14:32] And, and, and I didn't bring my, my copy

[14:34] of Bobby's rules with me.

[14:36] I thought it was the point for reconsideration is

[14:41] that somebody who voted one way would reconsider their votes

[14:45] and they found cause therefore, so then it would

[14:49] Be the, i I believe the rule of order is set up such that

[14:53] people on the losing side of an argument don't,

[14:56] aren't the ones that can automatically make a motion

[14:58] to reconsideration.

[15:00] They have, they have to use a different

[15:01] parliamentary procedure.

[15:03] If you won the vote and something occurs

[15:06] and you think that it's justified

[15:11] to be reconsider reconsideration as an order,

[15:14] then the person in the prevailing quote unquote side

[15:20] is automatically in order to make a motion to reconsider.

[15:23] Well, fair enough. I won't petty fog

[15:26] the issue here one way or the other.

[15:28] The motion's gonna be before us, so. Right. I'm happy to

[15:31] Yeah.

[15:32] What whatever, whatever proceed here

[15:33] people will be happy with.

[15:36] So, and you made a second of that. Yes. Okay.

[15:39] On the motion to reconsider of Article

[15:44] 17, roll call vote Dirk.

[15:48] Aye. David?

[15:50] Aye. Patricia,

[15:52] Stay.

[15:55] Donna Aye.

[15:58] Grace? Yes.

[16:00] Jean? Yes. Kat? Aye.

[16:04] Julian, yes. Matt? Yes. Richard? Yes. Gary? Yes.

[16:09] And I'm a Yes. Alright.

[16:13] Previous discussion, debate and votes are set aside.

[16:17] We are back to hearing Article 17 a new, so

[16:23] I think we're familiar with the general motion

[16:27] and subject matter that's

[16:29] before us members of the committee,

[16:33] do we have questions for the sponsor within the bounds of

[16:36] what we should be questioning and debating?

[16:45] Donna,

[16:47] Will a copy of this report be available

[16:49] for the fin com book as copies

[16:52] of other reports have often been available like

[16:56] CBRC reports, et cetera?

[16:59] We don't include committee, committee

[17:02] or third,

[17:05] we don't include reports in the fin com book,

[17:08] the CBRC report.

[17:10] It is frequently not even written or available.

[17:13] We haven't actually even been hearing that in advance.

[17:16] The first time we've been hearing it is was at town meeting.

[17:20] So that's, that hasn't been included either.

[17:22] So that's typically outside of what we do.

[17:27] Okay. I was a citizen sponsor of this petition

[17:32] and I understand like there's two points

[17:37] here for reconsideration, standing or readiness.

[17:42] And I, I question the readiness of this for a report

[17:47] and the chair of the committee herself has said it's not

[17:49] necessary to hear this in the spring, that it could just

[17:52] as easily be heard in the fall.

[17:55] And for example,

[17:58] just today I received a 17 page report from Jillian Wilson

[18:02] Martin from sustainability providing I think,

[18:07] important information about this.

[18:09] And I just questioned whether the report will be

[18:12] as comprehensive and if it could be also the master plan

[18:17] for the field won't be done until the fall.

[18:19] And I just, I think,

[18:21] I wonder if our time could be better spent when there's more

[18:24] information that could be presented before us.

[18:28] Mayor, I'd like to answer those, please.

[18:31] Yes, Mr. Evans, please.

[18:33] First of all, thank you

[18:35] for mentioning Ms. Wilson Martin's study.

[18:39] We had requested that the working group had requested that

[18:44] as part of our fact finding

[18:48] to be able to present that to town meeting.

[18:52] As you might expect, there are a number of different reports

[18:56] that say a number of different things.

[18:58] And Jillian's report is actually a very good report

[19:01] because it crystallizes a lot of the more recent

[19:06] research in this area.

[19:09] And as, as to whether, why do it now,

[19:13] we made a commitment to fall town meeting,

[19:18] to have an interim report to form a study group

[19:21] and to continue this discussion at town meeting.

[19:26] And the objective of having the interim report is to present

[19:30] what we know now, what we think we need to know to be able

[19:34] to make a recommendation of the future town meeting

[19:41] as to under what conditions

[19:45] or what circumstances is it advisable

[19:49] to use a turf field versus a grass field.

[19:53] The prevailing sense is that other things being equal

[19:58] grass field would be better, but there's also other factors.

[20:02] And those factors include availability of fields

[20:07] in, in a given town, the necessary rest for those fields,

[20:13] the, the demand for

[20:19] new sports to be included.

[20:21] As an example, we heard last night from

[20:25] the rec parks department that two things

[20:30] that are, are relatively new that are

[20:34] youth field hockey feeder programs

[20:37] and NFL flag football.

[20:40] Right. Those are two additional sports.

[20:43] And in addition to what we already have, so our

[20:49] basic premise is to start with the demand side of things.

[20:55] Mr. The Field and Park study,

[20:57] Mr.

[20:58] Mr. Evans. Yeah, I I I'm gonna try

[21:01] and keep the committee from strain into report

[21:05] contents. So, so

[21:07] The only thing I'll wrap up I is the field

[21:11] and park study is an independent issue.

[21:13] It's not just the grass versus turf issue.

[21:17] It is What, what's the, what's the,

[21:20] we did a study in 2016, it's now 2026.

[21:25] It needs to be updated.

[21:26] A lot of the information is still valid,

[21:29] but in some cases the situation's just gotten worse.

[21:33] Yes. Mr. So, Okay,

[21:35] I I I, I you, you started off I think

[21:39] directly addressing the question in that you

[21:44] have, you, you made a commitment to give an interim report.

[21:47] This isn't the final report,

[21:49] but this is being responsive to an, in a request

[21:52] for an interim report.

[21:54] So do we have other questions from members

[21:56] of the committee, Mr.

[22:00] Munich?

[22:02] Not that this is quantifiable anymore than the answer to

[22:05] how high is high, but

[22:10] what percentage of the committee's work is,

[22:15] or the study groups work is completed.

[22:20] Maybe the answer to that would be how many more meetings

[22:23] of the study group are anticipated

[22:25] between now and fall town meeting?

[22:30] Really depends on

[22:31] where we end up at 10 at Springtown meeting.

[22:34] I think what we're going to see, you know, without straying

[22:39] the field from the chair's instructions

[22:44] we're we are, you know, probably 50% there is, there's a,

[22:48] there's a, a lot of data out there.

[22:52] There's information, we've had experts from various

[22:57] different organizations both within town

[23:00] and external to town.

[23:01] We've been provided with numerous studies

[23:06] and we're trying to synthesize that into a presentation

[23:10] that that goes through.

[23:12] Here's what we know, here's what we don't know.

[23:16] What information gaps do you feel?

[23:19] Do you town meeting feel, need to be addressed for you

[23:22] to be able to, or for the town to be able

[23:26] to make an informed decision.

[23:28] Thank you. In the, between now

[23:32] and fall town meeting, the collection of information

[23:35] by the study group, is there

[23:41] currently an open solicitation for information

[23:45] and at what time would the working group's

[23:49] window close for receiving information to allow it time

[23:54] to synthesize the work and come up with a final report?

[24:00] Good question. I would say, you know, given

[24:02] that we're about 50% there, what we've asked people

[24:07] for people who are experts is the net new information.

[24:12] We have plenty of historic information where historic is

[24:16] five years or, or maybe greater.

[24:20] But we, we are interested in is new things that that,

[24:24] that we don't have information for.

[24:26] There's no shortage of information.

[24:28] It's a matter of, of putting it all together

[24:32] and formulating the pros and cons of each.

[24:36] Right. There are situations where both, where one

[24:38] or the other is more advisable than, than the alternative.

[24:43] And that's what we want to lay out.

[24:46] Thank you. Just to finish up on that line,

[24:51] the transom for people to,

[24:56] if the door isn't open

[24:57] or the windows isn't open, the transom being open,

[24:59] is there a date at which

[25:03] the working group goes into conclave

[25:05] and says, this is,

[25:07] we just can't receive any more new information

[25:10] after this date because we have to amalgamated

[25:13] and create a final report?

[25:15] Yeah, that, that's a reasonable question,

[25:18] but we don't have the answer yet.

[25:20] And, and the reason we don't have the answer

[25:22] yet is we don't, we want to identify the gaps that,

[25:26] that people perceive with what we have already.

[25:31] We know we have a certain amount of work to do,

[25:34] but I'd estimate that

[25:36] and one person in their working group,

[25:40] I'd estimate that we'd probably want to do the complete

[25:44] the lion's share of any research by early summer so

[25:48] that we're in a position that to consolidated

[25:53] well in advance of fall town meeting.

[25:57] So just to truly wrap this, this line up, will the report

[26:01] to SPRINGTOWN meeting give town meeting a sense as to

[26:09] when or for how long the

[26:13] study group will be in receiving mode?

[26:16] I will discuss that with the rest of the group.

[26:19] I don't have an answer.

[26:21] Thank David. And then Donna.

[26:25] Thank you. My question is this,

[26:28] is there a report which is ready to be submitted

[26:31] to town meeting and how long is that report?

[26:37] No, there is not. This is going to be much like

[26:41] the presentations that, for example, CBRC

[26:46] provides that says, here's what we have so far, right?

[26:50] We don't have the definitive answers.

[26:52] Here's what, here's the information that we

[26:55] have received to date.

[26:57] Here are our preliminary conclusions based on

[27:01] that information,

[27:03] and let's have a discussion at town meeting.

[27:06] And, and as I said earlier, let's find out

[27:10] what information town meeting members need to help them

[27:16] be comfortable in making a decision.

[27:20] The decision, if you look at some of the other communities,

[27:25] the decision typically is there are circumstances

[27:28] where we'll use turf.

[27:30] And when we use turf,

[27:32] we have the following restrictions on it.

[27:34] Mr. And

[27:39] I, I I I, I, I think, I think Mr.

[27:42] Coffee's questions you

[27:43] Get, you get the gist of

[27:45] what we're working trying to do, right?

[27:47] To continue. David, another question or are you set?

[27:52] I'm set. Thank you Donna. And then Dirk,

[27:57] I have another question

[27:58] and I've never been asked anything by this working group.

[28:03] And again, I was the sponsor of this warrant article

[28:06] and I'm curious about the time

[28:08] and is it the intention of the group

[28:10] to uphold the advisory moratorium, which goes

[28:12] through December 31st 2 28?

[28:15] Is that question out of order?

[28:16] That's out of order. We're not,

[28:17] we're not discussing contents or Okay.

[28:20] Working workings of the inner, inner workings of the,

[28:23] It it just, it would've just gone to my point

[28:26] that there is no hurry to hear this report.

[28:29] That's debate. Well, do you have a question?

[28:33] No, I'm set for now. Thank you very much, Dirk?

[28:36] Yeah, just for the record, the reference was made

[28:40] to CBRC for any lay people watching.

[28:44] That's a charter and bylaw review

[28:45] commission or committee rather.

[28:51] My question to follow on to Mr.

[28:54] Munich's line of questioning, I, is there a,

[29:01] is there some possibility

[29:04] or probability that

[29:11] given the, the known unknowns, given the fact that

[29:18] information is still coming in

[29:19] and the, the sort of drawing

[29:24] of a circle around the scope is, is not yet

[29:29] something that our presenter can

[29:34] represent on behalf of the committee?

[29:36] Is there a possibility that

[29:41] there might not be a final report ready for the fall

[29:46] and it might go until spring of 2027?

[29:52] I will not speculate on that,

[29:54] but I will give some guidance.

[29:56] The guidance is, we have plenty of information.

[30:01] We know that we need to make a decision at some point

[30:05] and at town meeting to figure out is is

[30:12] do we, what do we do as far as turf versus

[30:18] grasp in this town specifically,

[30:23] we do know we need a,

[30:25] and without going too far afield, we know we need to

[30:29] develop the practice field at the high school.

[30:32] There's an acute need there.

[30:33] That's, that's a forcing function I'll call it,

[30:38] to get it done sooner rather than later.

[30:40] We've had two independent activities, Mr.

[30:44] Chair, the first is the working group.

[30:48] The second is, is Mr. Chair to determine

[30:50] Mr. Bruce, hold, hold, hold.

[30:52] Yeah,

[30:53] I, I think we strayed already from the, from the question

[30:57] of whether there's a possibility

[31:02] that it might go along.

[31:04] I don't want to know all the reasons

[31:06] or all the substantive discussion that might prompt that.

[31:10] I just, I'm looking for a sort of rule of thumb

[31:16] kind of eyeballing of the situation is, is it

[31:23] Highly Unlikely it an eyeball 10% likely 40% likely

[31:27] that it could go beyond next fall?

[31:30] It is 99% likely that it won't go past. Very good.

[31:34] Next floor. Good. That's what I'm looking for. Thank you.

[31:37] Thank you Matt.

[31:40] And then don't have any other members

[31:42] seeking the floor. Matt? Yeah,

[31:44] Apologies if this is a repeat question,

[31:46] but I maybe I didn't understand the answer.

[31:48] I think earlier it was asked if there was a report ready

[31:50] to deliver to town meeting.

[31:52] I think our vote is about whether

[31:53] or not to recommend the town meeting hear a report.

[31:57] I understand that there is not a 100% complete report.

[32:00] Is there any report, like is there a written piece

[32:04] of material that can be either delivered in writing

[32:08] or read out loud that is currently ready to go

[32:11] for delivery to town meeting?

[32:13] This spring?

[32:15] This spring, yes. Right now, no.

[32:18] We are meeting, we've met every week

[32:23] to assimilate all the information.

[32:25] We are now in the process of the feling that presentation

[32:30] and fleshing out that presentation.

[32:33] It's not gonna be a war in Peace presentation.

[32:36] It's gonna have many pointers to studies

[32:40] that have been made, one of which is, has been referred

[32:43] to earlier tonight, which was Jillian's.

[32:45] Thank you.

[32:49] All right. Any other members

[32:50] of the committee with questions?

[32:53] I Alright.

[32:56] I have a hand up from a member

[32:57] of the public with a question.

[32:59] Oh, good. Ms. Vickers, please.

[33:04] Yes. Friendly Vickers Precinct eight town meeting member.

[33:06] Thank you for your time.

[33:09] I, as a town meeting member,

[33:14] I am very curious about the presentation of a

[33:19] maybe 50% ready report

[33:23] and then how that works again in the fall.

[33:25] Do we get to, because members change, you know,

[33:29] town meeting membership changes, will we

[33:32] rehear the whole thing or will we just have a second half?

[33:36] And I am curious about the purpose of this

[33:41] as I'm understanding what you're saying,

[33:43] as I'm understanding what you're saying.

[33:45] The purpose of presenting half a report this time is solely

[33:50] and specifically to say this is the information we've

[33:53] gathered, it's not analyzed.

[33:55] This is the information

[33:56] and we wish to know what additional information you want.

[34:00] Meaning a discussion would be from town meeting members.

[34:04] Please tell us what you're looking for,

[34:06] but not discuss what we've just told you

[34:09] because it's incomplete.

[34:12] Not exactly true.

[34:14] What it is going to be is a, a report

[34:18] that is not a final report that says,

[34:20] here are our findings to date.

[34:23] Here are our, our conclusions to date.

[34:26] There are things we want to do to ensure

[34:30] that it is a complete study before we finalize.

[34:36] There's, we are, we're we are finding information.

[34:41] Even Jillian's work as an example that

[34:47] recently done interviewing LFNR,

[34:52] art Good Hunt, who's an expert in both

[34:55] grass and turf fields.

[34:57] Getting all that information together.

[35:02] Also leveraging the information that's been gathered by, all

[35:07] by surrounding communities in Massachusetts.

[35:11] There are are pros and cons to each approach to, and,

[35:15] and each town comes to a different conclusion.

[35:19] Some, some say no, we're,

[35:21] we're gonna have a complete moratorium on turf fields

[35:25] and others say, we'll use turf fields in

[35:31] specific circumstances with, with specific restrictions.

[35:36] So that's what we want to present at town meeting.

[35:40] Is it going to be a hundred percent complete?

[35:43] No, we're not there yet.

[35:45] We didn't say we would be there yet,

[35:48] but what we're trying to demonstrate is meaningful

[35:50] progress towards that goal.

[35:52] Thank you. It may, I may I ask more?

[35:57] Please. Mr. Sch?

[35:59] Yes, Ms. Vickers. Thank you.

[36:01] I, or maybe this is more of a comment than a,

[36:06] a question on, it feels to me as a town meeting member

[36:10] that if I am being asked to

[36:14] discuss half fulfilled study information

[36:19] and listen to a conclusion about that information,

[36:22] that it is potentially wasting my time

[36:25] because then we'll need to start over again in the fall.

[36:28] So with this information, are you going

[36:31] to be presenting a full analysis of what you've already

[36:35] received and how can there be a full analysis of

[36:38] what you've received to see if the collection

[36:41] of information isn't complete?

[36:44] I, I'm just very concerned about how, let me answer

[36:47] that time could be sent spent on the floor

[36:50] and how that moves forward.

[36:52] Okay. Before, before the sponsor response.

[36:55] Some of those questions are

[36:57] for debate when town meeting is asked whether they want

[37:00] to hear, hear the report, so that some of

[37:03] that might be in order if you want

[37:05] to stand up at town meeting when this question's asked of

[37:09] that body, but briefly, Mr. Evans.

[37:14] Yeah, here here's, it's not 50% done.

[37:17] It's, it's a draft, it's like any draft plan, right?

[37:21] You'll have it sketched out.

[37:26] I'll, I'll, I'll use the analogy of

[37:30] a school design, right?

[37:32] You have a 25% design, then a, a schematic design,

[37:36] then a 50, then a 75,

[37:39] and then you get to a hundred percent at all points.

[37:43] During that you have an idea of where,

[37:48] of what the project is going to look at

[37:52] and you get each an additional level of detail to it.

[37:57] And once you, once you get more information,

[38:00] I think we have frankly plenty of information.

[38:05] I think what's more challenging is taking that information

[38:10] and putting it in a format that, that's

[38:14] not a bunch of links that says that say, okay,

[38:18] you want more information on it.

[38:20] Go see these websites. That's not what we want to do.

[38:23] We want to come to provide some conclusions,

[38:28] but those conclusions aren't written in stone.

[38:30] We, we wanna have a discussion about them.

[38:33] Thank you. Alright.

[38:37] Additional questions from members of the committee

[38:40] Ready to make a motion.

[38:43] Donna has a question for a second time.

[38:45] Just quickly, you said you wanted

[38:46] to provide some conclusions.

[38:48] So are you taking a viewpoint on this

[38:50] because the working group has said time

[38:53] and time again, it was not taking a position on the

[38:56] material, just presenting the material.

[38:58] Can you re-answer that?

[38:59] No, we're not making a conclusions.

[39:01] We're presenting pros and cons

[39:04] and what the facts have said on each of those.

[39:08] And we're, this is ultimately going to,

[39:10] to be a town decision.

[39:12] It's not a working group decision,

[39:14] it's not a moratorium group decision, it's not a turf

[39:19] advisory or a turf

[39:23] company decision.

[39:24] It's a town decision

[39:26] and the town will have to make that determination.

[39:31] Thank you. Alright.

[39:33] Seeing no other hands up either in the room

[39:35] or online motions,

[39:38] I'd like to move f to recommend favorable action

[39:42] with regard to hearing

[39:44] and discussing a report under Article 17.

[39:51] Second. Any other

[39:55] motions? Ms. McKenzie?

[40:00] Can I make a motion that the report be

[40:02] heard in the fall town meeting?

[40:04] That's, that question's not before us scope.

[40:08] Okay. Do I need to make a motion that it not be heard

[40:11] or is that just all via

[40:13] Vote?

[40:14] Just vote No, just vote accordingly. Okay.

[40:15] Well just a question of the motion maker on, on that.

[40:20] It as published the warrant article is to hear and

[40:25] or discuss.

[40:28] Well, it's not going to be discussed without hearing.

[40:32] So that option falls off of the decision tree. So,

[40:36] And, and my, my motion was here

[40:38] and discussed and Okay. I took

[40:39] The route.

[40:40] Okay.

[40:42] And that's what I was seconding at least

[40:44] I thought that's what I heard.

[40:46] All righty. Alright. Any other motions?

[40:52] Seeing no hands, nobody seeking the floor. Dirk?

[40:56] Well, a bunch of things make this challenging,

[41:00] but I think as a body we should

[41:06] pretty reliably err on the side of transparency,

[41:10] on the side of engagement of the public

[41:15] and of our representative town body.

[41:22] A commitment was made to this process.

[41:26] I, I think that there are people out there

[41:29] who care about this process

[41:31] and who some

[41:36] present parties accepted may

[41:42] be interested

[41:43] and perhaps gratified to know that

[41:46] there is attention being paid,

[41:48] that there is work in progress, that there is more

[41:52] to be done to finalize things.

[41:55] I think the, among,

[41:59] among many words we've heard, not all of which convinced me

[42:04] that, that it was easy to make this motion that I'm making.

[42:11] There there were some that were quite helpful

[42:15] and I think the comparison of this to a large town project,

[42:20] building a school or adopting a consequential policy

[42:24] of some sort as this certainly could end up in

[42:29] is, is apt that it happens

[42:33] in in waves.

[42:35] And it doesn't happen in waves

[42:36] because you go up to a line and stop.

[42:40] It happens because you start to understand the total picture

[42:45] with some level of granularity and then you go in

[42:49] and study it more and you understand it in more

[42:52] detail and more detail.

[42:54] And that may

[42:58] all be done in one wave.

[43:00] It may be done in two wave for, for a large school project.

[43:04] It happens in probably half a dozen waves or more.

[43:08] I think this is the right thing to do.

[43:11] It's a matter that was brought properly

[43:14] before town meeting as a concern of people in our

[43:21] population of Natick citizens and,

[43:27] and a group has been duly constituted

[43:31] to study it and can talk about it.

[43:37] It would've been perhaps easier to make this motion

[43:39] and support it if we had more of a draft.

[43:43] Now we don't, that's not the first time I've ever

[43:48] seen a, a large topic brought to this body

[43:54] for discussion at a town meeting where

[44:00] what was to be discussed was not fully prepared by

[44:07] a project manager or a construction company or a bidder

[44:11] or whatever.

[44:13] I, I think it's the right thing to do for our citizens.

[44:16] It to, as I say, to err on the side

[44:20] of transparency and engagement

[44:23] and not to bottle it up until everything's fully baked.

[44:28] We could be sorely disappointed as a town if we take

[44:32] that route on a number of issues, not just this one.

[44:36] So I'm gonna vote for my motion. Thank you.

[44:40] Thank you. As the seconder, I just wanna speak to this, is

[44:44] that I'm almost completely agnostic as

[44:49] to the subject matter of my feelings on this.

[44:53] I think the finance committee has relatively few

[44:58] gatekeeping functions as

[45:01] it pertains to these sorts of things.

[45:03] I mean, is it, is this a group

[45:06] that should be talking to town meeting?

[45:08] I think we have several indications that they are

[45:11] not the least of which is the select board accepted

[45:16] and deemed within the scope of

[45:19] what town meeting should be doing a warrant article.

[45:22] So I think that they've met the threshold of are they people

[45:25] who are allowed to report

[45:27] and then beyond that it's

[45:30] do they think they'll be ready when the

[45:33] moderator calls on them?

[45:36] That's really pretty much the threshold that we have for

[45:42] blocking, you know, people from hearing information at town,

[45:45] meeting all of the objections that anybo

[45:49] or even the, the

[45:52] positive feelings everybody has about the subject matter

[45:55] or anything having to do with any of these committees,

[45:58] not just this one, but anybody that's presenting,

[46:01] that's debate for town meeting, let's make them

[46:04] as individual town meeting members

[46:06] or a group of town meeting members on

[46:08] the floor of town meeting.

[46:10] We, we, we shouldn't,

[46:13] there should be relatively limited gatekeeping

[46:17] that we do on information delivery to the town body.

[46:21] So that's just my feeling on, on all

[46:24] of these sorts of reports.

[46:27] Additional debate and discussion, Richard,

[46:32] I plan to support this, not that I have a a view on the,

[46:36] on the subject matter, but what I've seen in both times that

[46:41] the presenters come to fin com is a

[46:45] enormous interest in discussing the matter so that

[46:49] that alone shows that town meeting is the place

[46:53] where the matter can be properly discussed.

[46:56] So it it should be properly discussed there.

[47:00] Thank you Matt.

[47:02] Yeah, I'll, my primary concern here is, is the idea

[47:06] that the report is not ready at the time,

[47:09] but I think the more I think about that,

[47:10] the consequence there is that they go to town meeting

[47:13] and say, I have no report.

[47:15] So there's really nothing there

[47:16] that's not much of a concern.

[47:17] I'll, I'll support this,

[47:18] That, that may be the quickest way past this at town

[47:21] meeting Julian.

[47:24] Yeah, so the, for me, the big consideration here is

[47:28] Their value to the community town meeting

[47:31] for the time that's expended.

[47:33] What is the value they're gonna receive in return for that?

[47:37] And if what they receive is really quite

[47:43] complete, then they have value

[47:44] and a certain amount of comfort and absurdity

[47:47] and in, in the way this is going.

[47:51] But they'll also receive value if they perceive there

[47:54] to be deficiencies.

[47:56] And that was the my line of questioning there as

[47:59] to the window for still being able

[48:01] to receive in information.

[48:04] And even if it isn't framed as such, this

[48:09] before town meeting will be a solicitation

[48:11] for input if there are any perceived deficiencies.

[48:16] Yeah, so it could be that the showing up

[48:20] before town meeting, you're,

[48:22] they're asking in in town meeting

[48:24] and finance committees recommending

[48:26] that sufficient rope be given these folks

[48:28] to craft a, a cat's cradle.

[48:31] But the positive out of this is

[48:35] that members of the community that

[48:39] maybe are holders of stakes will

[48:44] spot deficiencies

[48:45] or take comfort that there aren't any deficiencies.

[48:48] And if between spring

[48:51] and fall town meetings, it turns out

[48:54] that there has not been opportunity presented availed

[48:59] or made possible for people,

[49:04] then fall town meeting is when the pitchforks can come out.

[49:07] So I'll be voting in favor of this to keep the process live.

[49:13] Thank you David. And then Donna,

[49:17] Thank you.

[49:19] My sole question was,

[49:20] is there a report currently ready and does not appear?

[49:23] There is a report currently ready, so it's hard for me

[49:25] to vote and say, well let's hear a report

[49:28] and discuss it when there is no report to hear and discuss.

[49:32] So perhaps the presenters will come forward in April 28th

[49:36] and say, actually we don't have a report yet.

[49:38] So we are currently working this,

[49:40] we've been working very hard.

[49:42] We'll continue to work hard,

[49:43] we'll get back to you in the fall.

[49:45] But right now when there's no report,

[49:47] I have trouble voting in favor of let's hear a report

[49:50] that does not exist.

[49:54] Donna, I understand the reading, the reasons

[49:58] for hearing the report and I think because of transparency

[50:01] and discussion and all of that, that's really important.

[50:04] I do look forward to hearing this report,

[50:07] but I don't think it's ready.

[50:08] And as the citizen sponsor of this,

[50:11] I would not have presented this petition. If there

[50:16] Ex excuse You that's content,

[50:18] I can raise it at time meeting. No, no,

[50:20] You're not the sponsor of this.

[50:22] This is, this is the, this is the

[50:27] not article 17, what's before us Is is

[50:29] Okay.

[50:30] Okay. I'm sorry. I just, sorry, I apologize then.

[50:36] I, I don't, I don't feel that it's,

[50:39] this is ready for prime time.

[50:41] I heard erroneous information yesterday saying

[50:44] that turf fields could be recycled.

[50:45] They cannot, there's just incorrect information

[50:49] and this can be adjudicated at town meeting as you said.

[50:52] And I think that's a really wise point

[50:55] and I do look forward to hearing that.

[50:57] I think it will be a long drawn out process at town meeting

[51:00] and I, I just wanna say that,

[51:02] but I'm not against conversation.

[51:05] Thank you, grace.

[51:09] Yeah, thank you. I'm gonna echo a previous speaker

[51:11] because I, I do have concerns.

[51:13] I, I definitely agree with the concept

[51:16] of town meetings should be hearing updates.

[51:18] But if we ourselves are a body that are supposed

[51:20] to vet the recommendations before us

[51:23] and we ourselves are not seeing a report

[51:25] that makes it very hard for us to recommend

[51:28] whether a town meeting should hear the report.

[51:30] And so I, I myself am torn on how I wanna vote on this

[51:33] and I would just offer that if the presenter

[51:35] and the team are still defining how they want

[51:37] to present this, that in some essence less is more.

[51:42] And so being able to provide an update on the work

[51:46] to date can be black or white.

[51:48] This is what we've done to date,

[51:49] this is the stances we're aligned on, this is

[51:52] what the work is we want to do next.

[51:54] But if we're presenting recommendations on, on

[51:57] what we're already thinking of, of

[52:00] of concepts from the time the team has worked before,

[52:03] but then also saying we're only 50% there, here's more

[52:05] that we wanna do, then I would caution

[52:08] how much we are debating that on town meeting floor

[52:10] because it's not even fully finished for the team to debate.

[52:13] So I say all that just to say that

[52:15] as the team prepares the report that they would like

[52:19] to share to town meeting, I would offer

[52:21] that it should be very clear on what is up for debate versus

[52:26] what is the work we want to present

[52:28] and leave any type

[52:29] of recommendations aside if we're not

[52:31] truly ready to debate those.

[52:33] Thank you. Thank you. A additional

[52:36] members of the committee,

[52:38] Hey, it's Gary.

[52:39] I'd like to raise my hand, but for some reason I can't find

[52:42] the raise hand button even though

[52:43] I've used Zoom a million times.

[52:44] You are recognized then Go ahead.

[52:46] Yeah, I I kind of lost even what we're debating on only

[52:49] because I thought it was just to yay

[52:51] or nay on letting them present

[52:55] That, that that is, that is the question before us.

[52:58] It is like, so it seems simple to me there's lots

[53:01] of debate what's in or out of this report

[53:05] or if there even is a report.

[53:06] But didn't someone present a report

[53:09] to us about the turf in field situation like a month ago?

[53:15] Yeah, that's, that's not really whether

[53:18] or not the report exists when this committee meets.

[53:20] We have a history of approving thing reports which are

[53:24] in progress or being written or still gathering information.

[53:30] Then and again, the charter

[53:31] and bylaw review committee is a, is an excellent example.

[53:35] I don't think we ever heard one of their vice chairs reports

[53:39] in this meeting because the subject matter

[53:43] of their report was still being worked on by the committee.

[53:46] So, okay,

[53:48] Well no, no, but like it's minor point.

[53:50] But didn't someone present something though about

[53:54] how long the fields LA last

[53:55] and how they're out of date so to speak?

[53:59] Because they they're overused.

[54:01] Yes. We, we we've we've heard, we've heard

[54:04] we've heard about the turf fields and,

[54:07] and grass fields from from yes.

[54:09] From various other, within the context

[54:13] of various other issues.

[54:16] Oh, maybe it wasn't directly to,

[54:17] to this warrant article then,

[54:19] but, alright, well, I think, I don't know,

[54:21] seems like we're debating way too much on a topic

[54:23] that is just yes or no and letting someone present.

[54:26] But thank I'm all for them presenting.

[54:29] Thank you for that observation. Okay. Anybody else?

[54:36] All right. We have one motion

[54:38] before us for recommend favorable action on the subject

[54:42] matter of Article 17 to hear

[54:45] and discuss the report of the natural

[54:48] and synthetic turf field study group

[54:52] by roll call vote Dirk Aye.

[54:56] David?

[54:57] No. Patricia

[55:00] Abstain.

[55:02] Donna? No.

[55:05] Grace Abstain.

[55:10] Jean? No.

[55:13] Cat? Yes.

[55:16] Julian? Yes. Matt? Yes. Richard?

[55:20] Yes. Gary?

[55:22] Yes. And I'm a, yes. So the yess are

[55:26] 1, 7, 5, 0, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 1, 2

[55:36] Nos and two.

[55:39] Okay. We have

[55:43] seven votes being insufficient to make a recommendation.

[55:46] We still have no recommendation on the subject

[55:48] matter of Article 17.

[55:51] So that's what we will write up for the book.

[55:55] Thank you everybody. Thank you Mr. Evans.

[55:59] Motion to close the hearing. Thank you, Bruce.

[56:05] You're welcome. Said time meeting.

[56:09] Thank you.

[56:14] Kat, I see your hand up.

[56:17] I just wanted to ask you, what was that

[56:19] vote count

[56:20] 7 3 2 7 3 2.

[56:27] Yes. Okay. Thank you.

[56:29] In the, in the in the negative was David, Donna, and Jean.

[56:35] Okay. Two abstains were Patricia and Grace.

[56:39] Everybody else voted in the affirmative.

[56:42] All right, thanks. At least according to my notes.

[56:46] Alright, I'll take a motion

[56:47] to close the public hearing please.

[56:49] So moved. Second.

[56:51] Alright, we will call vote on closing the public hearing.

[56:56] Dirk Aye. David? Aye. Patricia. Aye. Donna.

[57:01] Aye. Grace? Yes. Jean? Yes. Kat?

[57:07] Yes. Julian? Yes. Matt? Yes. Richard? Yes. Gary? Yes.

[57:12] And I'm a yes. Alright.

[57:14] That should have been our last vote for this season.

[57:18] Congratulations everybody.

[57:19] Thank you very much for getting us all here.

[57:23] All right, moving on.

[57:27] Hopefully the next item will be relatively straightforward.

[57:32] I put this agenda item on, which is

[57:36] discuss the finance committee's role, if any in guidance

[57:39] of town meeting procedures, especially

[57:41] as it relates to meeting rules.

[57:44] I agreed to put this on

[57:45] because it came up during debate of article three motion, a,

[57:50] a lengthy, complex motion

[57:56] feedback from various parties, including the moderator is,

[58:01] it's outside, well excuse me, it's

[58:04] outside the finance committee's purview.

[58:07] Unless the question comes in as part

[58:10] of a warrant article question, like the charter

[58:12] and bylaw review committee might make a recommendation

[58:16] of either a bylaw or a rule change

[58:19] or some sort of procedure.

[58:21] If it is a question which is being asked formally

[58:24] of the finance committee, then we,

[58:27] we certainly can have opinions on it.

[58:29] But unsolicited

[58:32] and unwarranted as it were,

[58:37] it's just not within the scope of what we do.

[58:39] If individual FinCon members as town media members want to

[58:45] raise questions or make motions to suspend rules

[58:48] or sit next to their compatriots

[58:53] and come up with 10 different questions that they can ask

[58:58] as a caucus, all of those things are great,

[59:01] but that's not part of our gig. Mr.

[59:04] Coburn, I would just note as you're saying that,

[59:06] that not all of our members,

[59:08] I believe are town meeting members

[59:10] and any who aren't are also welcome to engage in debate

[59:15] and questioning at the town meeting.

[59:16] Right. Just can't make that motion to suspend,

[59:19] they can't make the motion, can't make

[59:20] motions to suspend rules.

[59:21] But do we have any discussion on this item?

[59:25] I know that it's, it's been a longstanding interest and,

[59:29] and bless everyone's heart if they want

[59:33] to take it up at town meeting, but it's not a fin income.

[59:35] Well, the way,

[59:37] The way it can exist

[59:43] before town meeting is in our

[59:48] writing on the, of an article stated

[59:52] that the finance committee discussed the possibility

[59:54] of dividing the motion

[1:00:00] and what alternatives may be thereby opening a window,

[1:00:04] but without making a recommendation as to

[1:00:06] what the solution to that is.

[1:00:09] You could open the same window by staying standing up

[1:00:12] and seeking the moderator's attention to make that point.

[1:00:17] It doesn't mean it, but

[1:00:19] But, but that is of the evening.

[1:00:20] Whereas many assiduous well read town meeting members

[1:00:25] go through the book and they absorb

[1:00:28] that information a beforehand. So,

[1:00:31] Well, the really good ones are watching this meeting

[1:00:33] so they already know.

[1:00:36] Define good. Yeah,

[1:00:37] There you go.

[1:00:41] Well, I wrote up article three, so

[1:00:47] I can tell you that it's not in the current draft,

[1:00:49] but we're looking for reviewers.

[1:00:51] So if a reviewer would like to make that notation

[1:00:55] as a possible change, there's a couple days left.

[1:01:02] All right. Any anybody, Mr. Coburn?

[1:01:04] I might wanna do that. I I would say that

[1:01:14] it is a very interesting discussion

[1:01:15] and one that I encourage though though, it,

[1:01:20] it really isn't the purview of this body

[1:01:23] and I don't wanna make it the purview of this body.

[1:01:25] I encourage people whose purview it is,

[1:01:29] including the moderator, including ordinary citizens

[1:01:35] to think about what does procedure do.

[1:01:39] Sometimes procedure is just about organizing things.

[1:01:43] Sometimes procedure, whether it's for

[1:01:48] the intention of doing so

[1:01:50] or not can really have a very substantive effect.

[1:01:56] And anyway, kind

[1:02:01] of enough said, if,

[1:02:06] if it really, if we really discover it has unintendedly

[1:02:11] enough of an effect at one town meeting, the

[1:02:17] procedural remedy is for a group of citizens to get together

[1:02:22] and file an article for the following town meeting

[1:02:25] correcting the, the deficiency

[1:02:29] or the, the unintended problem.

[1:02:33] If, if I might just for a second time on this, the

[1:02:37] single largest criticism that I've heard

[1:02:43] both being outside of the finance committee

[1:02:44] and inside the finance committee is

[1:02:46] you're just a rubber stamp.

[1:02:49] And when a huge article goes before town meeting

[1:02:51] and it has limited ability to some extent

[1:02:58] I would want the public to know

[1:03:00] that we don't take these things lightly

[1:03:02] and maybe our scope for what we can put

[1:03:04] before them is maybe limited or constrained

[1:03:07] because of circumstance, but not that we take it lightly.

[1:03:11] That, and here's the, here's the whole thing

[1:03:15] and sucks to be Utah meeting.

[1:03:18] I think that if we raise the issue without them

[1:03:23] being heavy handed or finger on the scale about it,

[1:03:26] but I think that it, the rest

[1:03:29] of our work we'll receive better

[1:03:32] or reception if people know that

[1:03:37] we don't take these things lightly.

[1:03:39] So yeah.

[1:03:43] Alright. Point taken David,

[1:03:49] I often feel that I'm tilting at a windmill on this one

[1:03:52] and I said probably there will be a

[1:03:55] motion before our meeting.

[1:03:56] I hope it will be heard favorably.

[1:04:01] To echo what Julian just said, I don't want us

[1:04:03] to come across as rubber stamp

[1:04:05] and I don't want us to feel that we are interfering with

[1:04:09] transparency and having a full blown issue.

[1:04:15] While social media is not the be all end all,

[1:04:18] there are enough comments out there, the public wants

[1:04:22] town government to be responsive

[1:04:25] and this is the opportunity to be respons the well as

[1:04:30] it troubles me that the finance committee,

[1:04:32] our hands are being tied here, I'll live with that.

[1:04:36] But when this come the, that one particular article comes

[1:04:41] before town meeting, I hope there will be the opportunity

[1:04:44] to have a full discussion

[1:04:47] and ask questions to pick apart a

[1:04:52] very large document with large financial ramifications.

[1:04:57] So that being said, and I guess we'll see all on the 28th

[1:05:01] Right.

[1:05:02] And and town meeting can decide what it wants to do.

[1:05:06] I mean that somebody, even from the stage,

[1:05:11] somebody can stand up and make a motion and get it debated

[1:05:14] and make your case and you know, town meeting can vote

[1:05:17] to do pretty much whatever it wants.

[1:05:20] So, alright,

[1:05:23] Just for one further comment for reasons Mr.

[1:05:28] Munich I think articulated well.

[1:05:30] I wanna commend the chair

[1:05:32] for putting this discussion on our agenda tonight so

[1:05:36] that we can show that members do care about something

[1:05:40] that we don't really have the clear chartered

[1:05:45] ability to do something about

[1:05:48] As a collective.

[1:05:49] That's right. Right.

[1:05:51] Okay. Alright.

[1:05:53] Just jumping ahead for a little bit,

[1:05:56] I wanna make sure we get the meeting minutes

[1:05:59] that are on listed, on the agenda approved.

[1:06:01] Before we go onto anything else, has everybody had a chance

[1:06:05] to read the minutes

[1:06:08] and make any notes that they're going to make?

[1:06:10] Send them back to KA everybody more

[1:06:13] or less on board with the minutes

[1:06:15] as presented. Okay.

[1:06:19] I'm gonna abstain if that's okay.

[1:06:21] Yeah, that's fine. I take

[1:06:25] motions. I move to

[1:06:29] Approve the minutes.

[1:06:32] Seconded. All right.

[1:06:35] Any discussion on the minutes approval?

[1:06:37] I just wanna say it's March 24 and March 26.

[1:06:40] Yeah, that yes, as as listed. Yes.

[1:06:43] Approve the minutes as listed on the agenda. Okay.

[1:06:50] Roll call vote on the minutes approval Dirk?

[1:06:54] Aye David? Aye. Patricia? Aye.

[1:06:59] Donna Abstains. Grace? Yes. Jean?

[1:07:05] Yes. Kat? Yes. Julian? Yes. Matt? Yes. Richard?

[1:07:10] Yes. Gary? Yes. And I'm a yes.

[1:07:14] Alright, thank you.

[1:07:17] Oh and post fact of debate.

[1:07:21] Once again I admire

[1:07:23] and appreciate anybody that can take

[1:07:26] my participation in a meeting and without using emoticons

[1:07:30] and other things, so thank you.

[1:07:34] Okay. Alright.

[1:07:37] I guess I can give you a status update on

[1:07:39] where we are on town meeting materials.

[1:07:43] Now that we've taken the last two votes.

[1:07:45] I can update two lines on a table that gets sent out

[1:07:50] to town meeting members that tells all

[1:07:53] of our votes the quantum is required at town meeting

[1:07:57] dates, things like that.

[1:07:59] And then it goes with a couple of blocks of

[1:08:05] pertinent financial data,

[1:08:07] which will also show up in the town meeting book.

[1:08:12] We usually just give them a couple of chunks

[1:08:14] of high level things to

[1:08:16] get them thinking through the process.

[1:08:18] But it has things like all the appropriations,

[1:08:21] all the funding sources, debt service schedule,

[1:08:26] some financial ratios, things that typically come up

[1:08:29] and get asked like what are all the

[1:08:35] account balances for, you know,

[1:08:38] the various funds and things like that.

[1:08:40] So it's four, four page, four pages,

[1:08:45] double-sided tube sheets of paper this year.

[1:08:48] It also includes the announcement that the

[1:08:52] moderator is conducting a town meeting member orientation

[1:08:57] at Kennedy on the 14th, I believe is what it was.

[1:09:02] So just get that out there

[1:09:05] in a little bit sooner than they would get the book.

[1:09:07] They at least have the announcement that

[1:09:09] there's an orientation if town meeting members want to

[1:09:14] avail themselves of that.

[1:09:16] So that's, that goes out tomorrow.

[1:09:18] And then the full book, I think except

[1:09:23] for the two items which we were discussing this evening,

[1:09:26] at least a draft has been done of all other warrant articles

[1:09:32] I went through and reviewed ones that I hadn't written.

[1:09:36] So some of the reviews are done.

[1:09:39] So I guess Dirk

[1:09:41] and I signed up for the two that we're hearing tonight.

[1:09:44] So those will be done sometime tomorrow

[1:09:47] or the day, you know, imminent imminently done tonight.

[1:09:51] So that will have all the warrant articles written.

[1:09:54] I have most of the non-war article

[1:09:58] book materials gathered.

[1:10:00] I still need a couple of town reports and things like that.

[1:10:03] And then there's a block of data and exhibits

[1:10:07] and things like that that I take out

[1:10:09] of the amended town administrator's budget book

[1:10:14] that's not quite ready for print yet.

[1:10:16] So as soon as that gets done, I'll do those extracts,

[1:10:21] include them in our report,

[1:10:23] and then I'll be able to go to, to print in the mail.

[1:10:27] It might not be the scheduled time, which was this Friday.

[1:10:31] It might, depending on when the TA book gets published,

[1:10:35] it might be, you know, the first couple days of next week.

[1:10:38] But we're well ahead of schedule for an April 28th

[1:10:43] town meeting start.

[1:10:44] So I think we're okay on that.

[1:10:47] But people are still welcome to take a look at the folders

[1:10:51] go through and we can have more than one person reading

[1:10:55] through things and reviewing them,

[1:10:56] but it's pretty much time for

[1:11:02] that to be wrapped up.

[1:11:03] So any other questions

[1:11:06] or anything like that on town meeting member materials

[1:11:10] that we send out after tonight's letter

[1:11:16] to town meeting members is complete.

[1:11:19] And in the mail I'll circulate an electronic copy

[1:11:22] for everybody just as an FYI thing.

[1:11:27] Okay. Committee members' concerns, questions,

[1:11:32] feedback, things that we need to deal with for town meeting

[1:11:36] because we don't have any other meetings

[1:11:38] scheduled between now and then.

[1:11:42] Don't see anybody with a hand up online.

[1:11:46] And Julian, as far as the, from town administration,

[1:11:51] there's absolutely zero sense

[1:11:53] that there will be any collective bargaining unit

[1:11:55] or other things between now

[1:11:57] and the first night of town meeting. It's

[1:11:59] The, the window was to hit tonight's meeting.

[1:12:04] They definitely didn't make, they're still,

[1:12:07] everybody's still working on it

[1:12:09] and I haven't heard that there's gonna be anything

[1:12:14] between our last meeting

[1:12:15] and the start of town meeting. I, I just,

[1:12:17] Just, just haunting memories

[1:12:19] of there being a finance committee meeting scheduled for

[1:12:24] six o'clock in the high school.

[1:12:26] Right. In the classroom. 'cause Yeah,

[1:12:28] Yeah, no, nobody's asked for that

[1:12:30] and we'll, you know, if it comes up

[1:12:32] and it seems to be important, we will, I'll ask

[1:12:35] and we will entertain that question,

[1:12:37] but so far I haven't heard anything about it.

[1:12:41] Other questions? All right then

[1:12:47] I guess we'll take a motion to adjourn these.

[1:12:48] So moved. All right then second. All right.

[1:12:52] That's a non debatable motion. Everybody wave.

[1:12:56] Have a good evening. We are adjourned. Thank you.

Natick Finance Committee April 7, 2026

Transcript