[0:00] I'm going to call the advisory committee meeting to order this August the 5th at

[0:06] 7:39. Uh all members are present looks like except for Howard

[0:11] believe. Uh Howard may not be joining us tonight because he's actually on

[0:15] vacation. Um so the first order of business tonight

[0:20] is Tim. We're recording, right? Okay.

[0:26] » Yep. >> We are we are recording.

[0:31] All right. Did I hear Howard or who was Okay. All right. Um, first order of

[0:36] business is to review the minutes. We had four meeting minutes uh to review

[0:43] starting with March the 10th, which is a joint select board meeting.

[0:50] Um, does anybody have any edits or comments on the March 10th meeting

[0:54] minutes?

[1:04] All right. If not, uh, I'm going to we can approve

[1:08] let's try to approve them all at once, but we'll move on to anyone have any

[1:12] edits for the March 16th meeting?

[1:20] No. Okay. I take silence is is [snorts]

[1:25] uh concurrent. Okay. Anyone have any edits for the March 25th meeting

[1:32] minutes?

[1:37] No. And last but not least,

[1:41] uh, April 6th. Any meeting minute edits at April 6? No.

[1:51] All right. If not, do we have a motion to approve the meeting minutes from

[1:56] March 10th, March 25th, March 16th, and April 6th?

[2:03] » So moved. >> All right. Second.

[2:07] » Second. >> Thank you. Well, roll call vote.

[2:12] Tim >> I

[2:16] » L >> I'm going to abstain because I wasn't

[2:20] there. >> All right. I thought you might uh Eric.

[2:23] » Hi. [clears throat] >> Larry.

[2:26] » Hi. >> And Barry.

[2:29] » Hi. >> And Marcy is I. All right. Let's say

[2:34] here unanimous. No edits. Okay. Thank you guys. All right. Moving

[2:41] on to the second item on our agenda tonight is the town policies. Um I did

[2:48] speak with the slug board chair earlier today and we will be receiving

[2:53] additional time. I know that everybody spent some time working on these this

[2:57] past week which is good and we will go over that. Um but we will have a few

[3:01] more weeks uh for additional edits, additional feedback,

[3:06] etc. if needed. And um we expect that they the budget policy at least will re

[3:13] be reviewed at an upcoming meeting in September by the select board u but not

[3:18] next week uh as was originally planned. Any questions, concerns or comments

[3:24] about that thoughts?

[3:27] » Marcy was just curious I mean great [clears throat] to have the additional

[3:30] time but what was the basis for the extension?

[3:32] » [snorts] >> Well, last week we talked about um we

[3:36] may need more time. Yeah. [laughter] >> And the select board chair and vice

[3:40] chair agreed that you know advisory plays a big role in these budget

[3:44] policies. So they wanted to give enough time. Got it.

[3:46] » Um yeah. So we were asked uh sort of on short notice to turn it around. As

[3:51] pointed out there's se there's been a trickle through of several budget sorry

[3:55] several policies. So there, you know, we were happy to hear that this wasn't as

[4:00] urgent as we may have thought in terms of for next week.

[4:04] » Thank you. >> You're welcome.

[4:07] All right. So, moving on then to the budget um documents. Let me see

[4:15] here. I did pull up the budget documents.

[4:18] One second. I'll see if I can share my screen.

[4:23] We were thinking that Claire would be here for this, but I don't think she's

[4:27] going to be. So, >> she might be in the audience. Give me a

[4:30] minute. >> Okay,

[4:32] » looks like she is. She's got somebody named Hannah Sro has

[4:37] their hand raised. [laughter]

[4:41] » Okay, that is probably clear. >> There she comes.

[4:47] » Thank you, Tim.

[4:52] Hey guys. >> Hello Claire.

[4:55] » Hi. I don't know what happened. So Tim, you kind of figured this out.

[5:02] » God bless you. >> Yeah, we'll we'll figure it out for next

[5:05] time. Claire. >> Yeah, I was I was Andrew's backup when

[5:08] he when he was >> Oh, that makes sense.

[5:11] » Yeah. >> He was Andrew's backup.

[5:17] » I gotcha. Okay. Um, so I have the the document pulled up that you're talking

[5:22] about. Um, you want >> you want me to share it if I get um

[5:30] um I can share it. >> This is the version that Al had sent to

[5:33] all of us that had feedback from multiple people. I believe I'll let you

[5:37] speak. >> First off, thank you so much for the

[5:40] work on this. I I have comments and it it looks very good. Thank you.

[5:45] Um, yeah. Actually, silly question. Claire, if I send something to the

[5:49] advisory committee, do you get a copy? >> Yes.

[5:53] » Okay. >> Oh, somebody um

[5:56] » I'm not sure I get a copy, but >> yeah. Or

[5:59] » we figured that out today, Al. >> Okay.

[6:01] » So, [laughter] you should be able to see your copy on the screen.

[6:04] » Yep. >> Okay.

[6:07] » So, we will we will fix the issue of the advisory email committee group. Uh we

[6:12] learned today. Thank you, Claire, for your keen eye that Al is not listed yet

[6:17] in our group. So, um I don't think you've missed that many emails, Al, but

[6:21] that was one of the reasons you might not have received some things. But I did

[6:24] forward you anything for this meeting today.

[6:28] Oh, no. I think something's showing up here. Claire. Okay.

[6:39] Maybe you could just pull it off the screen. I don't know. Um,

[6:43] I I have it up and it says that I'm sharing it, but I'm just wondering if

[6:48] I'm sharing. >> You are you are sharing, but the little

[6:50] box with the Microsoft is is blocking some of it at least.

[6:55] » Can you see that? >> Okay. So, it's doing something wonky.

[7:00] How's that? >> All right.

[7:03] » It's going to keep bothering you until you log in with your town credentials.

[7:07] » Oh, okay. >> All right. Maybe maybe not. Okay. We

[7:11] look pretty good for now. Okay. All right. So, I think um Al, I'll turn it

[7:17] over to you quickly. >> Oh, [laughter]

[7:20] » well, if you want to comment, I mean, you just want to set up the stage like

[7:23] what what's happen? >> Yeah. So, um I I had taken uh the the

[7:28] the document that Andrew drafted and um then I tried to uh incorporate um the

[7:37] comments from uh [clears throat and cough]

[7:41] Larry and um

[7:46] and Barry. Larry and Barry. I should remember that. and um

[7:52] » and then sort of put my own edits in there as well to to really I took out

[7:58] some of the what I would describe as sort of u

[8:05] let's all be nice and play together >> and sort of said you know look this is

[8:11] the process and then you know the process documents should describe who's

[8:16] responsible and what they're supposed to do so I sort

[8:21] took some of that out. I made a couple of substantial

[8:25] edits, particularly uh when it comes to uh free cash and the the uses of um

[8:34] surpluses, >> which I think we need to chat about.

[8:40] But um you know, maybe we should just sort of walk through

[8:45] » uh part by part. The first thing I did,

[8:51] » it just does not like you, Claire. >> I know. Let me see if I can share it,

[8:54] Claire. Hold on. Let me try.

[8:58] » I do have it up here on the screen.

[9:05] Oh, actually, so the trick thing I did was um

[9:09] » I said, well, if this is really our policy, then one of then we ought to be

[9:14] at least one of the adopting entities. The select board, I think, should be the

[9:18] other adopting entity because they have resources that are under their control

[9:24] that are critical to provide critical administrative support.

[9:30] And so that that was the first one. Um then

[9:38] » can you guys see that? >> Yes.

[9:41] » Okay. Is that helpful? Maybe just

[9:46] » um I think uh I I don't remember who suggested we put in the words priority

[9:51] under purpose. Um >> the next one is to sort of talk about

[9:56] roles and responsibilities. I mean, I think our goal here should be to have a

[10:02] budget process that incorporates all of the uh the entities that that

[10:11] participate in the budget and that includes the school committee

[10:17] » school committees because after all, you know, that's twothirds of the money we

[10:21] spent on an operating basis. Um, so I said, you know, the select board is the

[10:27] town's executive body responsible with setting policy and establishing budget

[10:30] priorities within the domains under its control. The select board has no

[10:34] authority to set budget policies or goals for the schools or for that matter

[10:40] the library um because those are independently elected executives.

[10:47] » [clears throat] >> They do however uh supervise the town's

[10:50] finance team and which provides critical technical and financial services and

[10:55] developing the town's budget. Then >> do you want do you want to make edits as

[11:00] we're going through or do you just want to talk?

[11:02] » Um well let's see here. Claire, can you edit while we go?

[11:06] » Yeah, I just wanted to add an apostrophe in towns. That's all.

[11:10] » Oh, >> I'm editing [clears throat] right now.

[11:12] Actually, I think my screen I can't see you guys.

[11:14] » Accents to edit it. >> Yeah, hold on. Hold on a second.

[11:20] » I apologize. Who is Are you guys looking at my screen? Yeah,

[11:25] you should be. Okay. It's me, uh, Claire, not you, right? Okay. Just

[11:29] making sure because you're talking about Claire sharing the screen, but I'm

[11:32] sharing now. So, I'm going to edit as we go. So,

[11:35] » uh, Larry Towns, >> no. And the third in the third line.

[11:39] » End of the third line. And the third line with a capital T.

[11:42] » Yep. Okay.

[11:46] Yep. >> And I'll throw in the last line.

[11:53] » Yep. Thank you. And I can correct that. I mean, I think it Okay. Town budget.

[11:59] Yep. All right. Keep going. >> Okay. So then the adi the advisory is

[12:04] the town's independent and I think Barry was the one who insisted on on that word

[12:09] which I think is good >> is responsible for reviewing analyzing

[12:13] and modifying as appropriate and recommending

[12:18] a budget. >> Al may I

[12:21] » Yes. Um, just a just a note I think for the advisory team since since our our

[12:28] our our chair is showing her screen, she may not see hands raised.

[12:33] » So, you'll just have you'll just have to butt in.

[12:36] » Oh. All right. Um, yeah, that that's fine by me.

[12:42] » All right. We'll we'll uh keep an eye on that or just say we've got a hand up.

[12:47] Thank you guys. Sorry, I'm Yeah, I can't see everybody now that I'm sharing.

[12:53] » Okay, >> keep going.

[12:57] » I I think that's very good what you say here about the advisory. The budget

[13:00] presented to you and read and read onto the floor to town meeting is the

[13:04] advisor's recommended meeting.

[13:08] » I agree. I I agree with it too, Al. I I I I've always felt that there was a a

[13:12] weird disconnect though that advisory is not somehow plugged in at the beginning

[13:17] when the policy when the initial policies are being decided for the year.

[13:26] » So, okay,

[13:29] » that may be a discussion point with the, you know, when we review this with the

[13:33] select board. Yeah, I I do agree that it's the select board's area, but I do

[13:36] like if they decide that from the beginning

[13:40] that they want a level service budget and then later on advisory disagrees,

[13:45] like a whole lot of work's potentially been wasted.

[13:51] » I think we would need concurrence up front, right?

[13:54] » Yeah. I'm not saying I want to take anything away from them. I just I I feel

[13:57] that advisory needs to be >> officially like in the past the chair of

[14:03] advisory has been informally invited >> to all of these meetings and I I think

[14:08] it needs to be more formal.

[14:15] » I'm going to uh notate other comments that aren't really about you know in the

[14:19] document but that we want to raise. Okay.

[14:26] So, >> it's a great point, Tim. Thank you.

[14:28] » So, then a quick one. So, a question about sort

[14:33] of contextualizing the rest of the edits. Um, and again, I'm probably

[14:38] coming at this because my my more um shorter tenure on advisory does advisory

[14:44] there. There seems to be that the language as I'm interpreting some of the

[14:48] later um passages is about we own the budget and develop it, I think is a

[14:52] specific word. My my understanding was we advise on the budget and review but

[14:57] we're not responsible for creating it. Correct.

[15:01] » No, I disagree. I think we are. >> So we we create the actual budget or

[15:05] does it come from the finance team and we review it at

[15:08] » well [clears throat] the the the technical work which is to say you know

[15:13] the adding up of the numbers and tracking the numbers that's done by the

[15:18] finance team. >> But but at the end of the day

[15:22] the budget the one that goes to town meeting is the budget that we approve.

[15:31] Uh, does everybody agree with that? >> But we are a formal approving mechanism

[15:35] for the go to town meeting. Is that right? I guess that's the point I'm

[15:37] getting at. >> Yes,

[15:38] » that's Yeah, that's right. That's what I'm trying to remember.

[15:42] » Yeah. Is that you know, well, let's put it this way. And and what that may mean

[15:46] is that there will be a budget printed in

[15:51] the warrant that may not be the budget. And so we would have to have a separate

[15:57] budget document which would be the budget that's read onto the floor of

[16:01] town meeting. >> Got it. So the only thing I think where

[16:04] I was confused was the notion of how it gets created and then when it gets

[16:08] handed to us to review the debate and then make it you know make the approval

[16:14] part of it but we can talk about but contextual that contextualizes the rest

[16:17] of your feedback for me. So thank you. >> Yeah. Yeah. I think you know the various

[16:25] uh elected executives and the departments under their control make

[16:29] budget requests

[16:33] of various amounts and and both operating and capital and at

[16:41] the end of the day it's our job to sift through those and come up with a un a

[16:48] balanced budget. Yeah, that part I was clear on. You'll see on the next

[16:52] [clears throat] word develop is where I get confused because that implies that

[16:55] we're involved in the creation of it. I think that's my interpretation, but we

[16:58] can talk through that some more when we get to that next page.

[17:01] » All right. So then going on to the key

[17:05] distinctions, the select board establishes

[17:10] priorities within its domain and establishes overall financial direction.

[17:16] So you know the site board is responsible for setting the priorities

[17:19] of the DPW, the police department, the fire department and all of the other

[17:23] departments that are under its main domain and providing

[17:29] financial direction. I think but the town administrator and the finance

[17:33] director develop a proposed budget consistent with those priorities. The

[17:37] advisory committee independently reviews that proposal and makes such changes as

[17:42] it deems appropriate and submits its budget.

[17:46] Did I its budget recommendation to town meeting?

[17:53] » Yep. >> Can you spelling error and I'm not sure

[17:56] the apostrophe on the but >> the apostrophe has to come out. We can

[18:01] always do uh word smithing too later [laughter] give you that feedback

[18:06] because I think obviously it'll get scrubbed before

[18:09] » I [clears throat] would say maybe the budget or instead but anyway I'll fix

[18:13] that. >> I would yeah I

[18:17] » Al you're saying that that the individual line item numbers are ours?

[18:24] » Yeah. >> Well the line Well, let's let's be clear

[18:28] about that. the line. So, you know, in say the uh police budget, you know that

[18:36] they have great detail underneath the number

[18:42] that's in the budget for the police department,

[18:45] right? I mean, they've got salaries. They've got

[18:48] » Yeah. I'm talking about the rollup that goes to town meeting.

[18:51] » Yeah, the rollup. Yes. >> Okay. Okay. So, I think we should remove

[18:54] the word recommendation because that could be construed as in advisory

[19:00] approves or doesn't approve, right? >> Okay. Yeah.

[19:05] » So, we can say just submits to budget >> or submitted submitted to town meeting.

[19:11] » Submission to town meeting. Budget submission to town meeting.

[19:14] » I think it's submit submits the budget to town meeting.

[19:17] » Yeah. >> Okay.

[19:21] » Marcy. Yes. >> Could I suggest that you turn line

[19:25] numbers on to facilitate us making comments?

[19:29] » Hold on. >> If you go up to the layout in the ribbon

[19:36] » and just click line numbers continuous

[19:42] » magic. >> Yay. [laughter]

[19:45] » Every day. There you go. I love that. >> Woohoo. Okay. Thank you.

[19:50] » Hey. Hey guys. I just got a quick question.

[19:54] I think I'm looking at a different It says I'm screen sharing and I'm making

[19:58] edits, but it's not the same thing. Should I just stop screen sharing?

[20:05] [clears throat] >> You should stop.

[20:07] » Oh, okay. All right. Because I I think I took over Claire somehow, but maybe you

[20:13] maybe it looks like you are. Okay. >> Um

[20:17] » All right. >> All right. So I I think those roles and

[20:20] responsibilities look good and you know we'll do a final document with without

[20:24] track changes and send it along to everybody but I think this looks good.

[20:29] » All right. So then under the policy uh town officials

[20:33] » Oh, hold on. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Go back up.

[20:36] » Oh, okay. >> Line is that just a typo on line 30

[20:41] after budget >> recommendations.

[20:44] The creation of the budget ID.

[20:50] » Yeah. Oh, sorry. Line 30. Sorry. Um, the creation is okay.

[20:54] » Is is is >> Yeah, that's that's my bad.

[20:57] » Okay. >> Yep.

[20:59] » Sorry. >> Oh, good.

[21:01] » I thought you were getting technical, Al. I was getting concerned. [laughter]

[21:05] » No, no, it was fumble fingers.

[21:10] » Okay. >> Okay. Okay. So, town officials work

[21:12] collaboratively to prepare a balanced budget for the approval of the voters at

[21:18] the annual town meeting. Uh the annual town meeting should be capitalized. I

[21:22] believe that's we're >> um the creation of the budget.

[21:30] » You can keep going out. >> Yeah. Sorry. The creation of the sorry

[21:35] you just [laughter]

[21:38] the creation of the budget is guided by and reflects all of the

[21:43] other financial planning policies adopted by the town and contained in its

[21:48] policy manual. I'm okay with that. The town meeting has the sole authority to

[21:53] appropriate funds for the budget except for specific instances where

[21:58] appropriations are not required by statute such as grants, gifts, overlay

[22:02] reserve, offset receipts. >> I think this would also be capital laws

[22:07] here. >> Yeah.

[22:10] Okay. Then uh it is the responsibility of the

[22:15] advisory committee to develop, present and defend a balanced budget to town

[22:20] meeting. In doing so, the advisory committee will work with the executive

[22:24] boards and officials and their staffs to review the proposed operating and

[22:29] capital budgets for the purposes of developing a budget to be presented to

[22:33] town meeting. >> Yeah. And now that's where so that the

[22:37] the word develop in there that guy was getting at what I was asking about

[22:39] earlier. So >> um we will receive a deliverable that is

[22:44] comes from the finance team and then we begin to review it. So I guess the

[22:47] question is that your your intention of develop what what is that what's your

[22:50] intention by putting it there? [clears throat]

[22:53] » Um that's a good question. Um,

[23:00] let's see.

[23:04] » I'm only asking because if we're involved with finance to create the

[23:07] initial deliverable, that that's my interpretation of it. If that's not how

[23:10] it works, then yeah, I don't want to get too hung up on the words, but that that

[23:14] word to me implies that we we're involved in creating the initial

[23:17] deliverable versus reviewing it and then providing feedback and making

[23:22] adjustments after we receive it. >> Yeah. No, I I I get what you're saying.

[23:27] Um and and I think I agree with it which is you know this it's it's the

[23:33] responsibility of the various elected boards and officials

[23:40] to prepare an initial budget request >> which is coordinated through the finance

[23:48] department.

[23:51] » Could we >> and that handed over to us at some

[23:53] point? Yeah. >> Yeah. I [clears throat] mean, could we

[23:56] say it's the responsibility of the committee to evaluate and modify as

[24:01] appropriate, present and defend a balanced budget to town meeting?

[24:07] » Yeah, I think that would work. >> Barry, just repeat what you said again.

[24:12] » Writing develop and just say evaluate. >> Yep.

[24:18] » And >> take out develop and and present. Just

[24:21] put evaluate. >> That's appropriate.

[24:23] » Okay. I think that's helpful. Yeah. >> Yeah. I think the other thing we can do

[24:27] is we can add uh in in the next paragraph

[24:31] um to the responsibilities of the the finance team the uh assembling of the

[24:37] initial budget requests. >> Yeah, there you go. That'll make it

[24:40] clear. >> Yeah.

[24:43] » I'm making sure I'm taking out the right parts here, but

[24:49] » evaluate and defend a balanced budget. So evaluate and modify

[24:57] as appropriate.

[25:02] » Okay. >> Um

[25:05] present and defend.

[25:13] All right.

[25:19] Okay.

[25:23] I think it would be and right and present and defend balance budget detail

[25:27] meeting. Is that right? >> Yep.

[25:30] » Okay. In doing so, advisory committee will work with elected executive boards

[25:34] officials. Everybody good with that? >> Yep.

[25:38] » Okay. >> All right.

[25:39] » So then the the next paragraph really sort of talks about the town's finance

[25:43] team. >> A couple of quick typographical things

[25:46] before you go. >> Sure.

[25:48] » You go back to line 34. I think it was. >> Okay.

[25:52] » Uh yeah. So um I think uh annual, special, and meeting need to be

[25:59] capitalized in that line.

[26:05] [clears throat and cough]

[26:11] And in the next paragraph that we're going to talk about on line 42

[26:16] um above you changed towns uh with an apostrophe to town with a capital T and

[26:23] I think it should be the same way in both places.

[26:25] » Yeah. >> Um

[26:26] » I agree, >> but I don't know which way you prefer.

[26:30] Okay. >> I think it's town finance team.

[26:33] » I just wanted them to be the same. Thanks.

[26:35] » All right. Perfect. Thank you. All right.

[26:41] supervised shouldn't be capitalized in 43.

[26:47] » Okay. >> Okay. So, critical to this process is

[26:52] the support provided by the town's town finance team. The finance team is

[26:57] supervised by the town administrator and led by the finance director with other

[27:02] town employees responsible for accounting and the management of

[27:06] revenues. The finance [clears throat] team will

[27:08] work with the advisory committee and the elected executive boards and their staff

[27:13] and is responsible for

[27:17] um I think actually the first maybe the first thing we ought to say is they're

[27:20] they are responsible for assembling the initial

[27:25] um budget requests but both operating and

[27:30] and capital budget requests from the various uh departments.

[27:36] You have you have that as line three, right?

[27:38] » Oh, do I did I >> Okay.

[27:42] » Yeah. >> Yeah. Okay. Yeah. All right. Never mind.

[27:43] » You do. You do. Okay. But good point. >> Way ahead of myself. [laughter]

[27:48] » Line line 44. You should change is will work to just works.

[27:58] » Works. Yeah. Okay. Keep going. Yep.

[28:05] Okay. So then uh developing with the support of the select board and the

[28:09] advisory committee the budget calendar um assembling and tracking the operating

[28:15] and capital budget requests from each department and organization with a line

[28:19] item in the budget [clears throat] coordinating with the

[28:22] capital budget committee and their recommendations.

[28:26] » I think it should be its recommendations.

[28:29] » Okay.

[28:39] Um, [clears throat] sorry,

[28:41] » sorry, typo here. Okay. All right. >> Estimating sources of revenue from

[28:48] sources other than the levy. >> Oops.

[28:52] » Is that what just happened? >> Z

[28:57] undo and >> Sorry. [laughter]

[29:00] » I don't know what's going on. You know what? On a mind of his own,

[29:03] » Marcy, this would be a good time to >> save occasionally. [laughter]

[29:07] » I will save. I can save. Okay, keep talking. Now,

[29:10] » Al, for number four, are you including state aid as well as nonprofits?

[29:16] » Um,

[29:19] yeah, you know, I mean, we we we've got to, you know, estimate this state aid.

[29:25] Um, you know, we get um new growth, for example.

[29:29] um the uh

[29:34] money we we get from the not nonprofits. Um you know there's there's a consider

[29:39] that >> excise taxes um

[29:42] » uh lodging taxes you know there there's a

[29:45] there's a whole paniply of >> then do you have a better word

[29:51] » revenue? >> Yeah revenue like that's not revenue

[29:54] right? >> Pardon?

[29:55] » That's not revenue right? the gifts from um

[30:01] from the schools for example. >> Yeah,

[30:04] » I don't think so. I think those are in the past

[30:10] they've been for specific purposes, but I don't know. I'd have to go back. We'd

[30:14] have to go and look at that. >> Yeah, because that's always been like

[30:17] their their thing like dealing with the nonprofits and dealing with state aid

[30:21] and >> Yeah, that you know, we we don't have

[30:25] the wherewithal to do that. That's something that the finance department

[30:29] finance team really has to be on top of because

[30:32] » you know I think we'd be useless in that process.

[30:36] » Yeah. >> Um okay. So

[30:41] let's see. U then number five is tracking the current estimated levy

[30:46] based on the requests and the advisory recommendations

[30:51] including the impact on of the levy on the median assessed home.

[30:59] me talking property tax >> be home value. Would it be home value?

[31:02] Sorry, Eric. >> Okay.

[31:05] » The it would be the uh

[31:10] it should be uh on the tax bill of >> Yeah.

[31:14] » on the median that SS >> property tax. Yeah. Sting.

[31:24] Does that make sense? The property tax

[31:30] » impact on the median assessed home >> or property tax due on the median

[31:35] assessed home.

[31:44] Um then there is uh number six is maintain the long-term forecast of

[31:49] revenues and expenses as well as monitoring economic trends which may

[31:53] impact future operations

[31:58] » and somebody account operations. Yeah, I I don't need to get that specific but

[32:09] Yeah, >> I'm sorry.

[32:12] [laughter] Somebody was messaging me too. Okay.

[32:17] » Can you just repeat what you just said? >> Oh, I think for number six, that's

[32:21] broadly the entire town operations, not would encompass DPW and and all the

[32:26] other folks within the town. Is that needed for clarity or you think it's

[32:30] clear enough for number six? [clears throat]

[32:35] maintaining. >> I can go either way on that.

[32:41] » I I think it makes sense the way it is probably.

[32:43] » All right. Good. >> Then number seven

[32:46] » should operate. Would it make more sense to say instead of saying future

[32:50] operations say future town finances? >> Yeah, actually that would be better I

[32:56] think.

[33:11] All right. >> Um, so number seven, provide financial

[33:15] guidance with respect to expected sources of income, financing costs and

[33:20] options. And then sort of a catch all

[33:24] » should there should there be a comma after income?

[33:28] » Yeah. Yes, there should.

[33:34] » Okay. >> Okay.

[33:38] » And then number eight is just sort of a providing financial analysis and guiding

[33:43] guidance. >> Can I ask when you say options like

[33:47] options for what? Um well so for example um

[33:53] if we were to take a position with respect

[33:58] all right I'm reading f financing cost sins options together are are lumped

[34:02] together in the concept of financing considerations

[34:06] » okay now now I get it now now it's clear to me I [clears throat] missed that

[34:10] » okay then uh starting on 61 all parties are expected to work collaboratively and

[34:16] provide the required information in a timely fashion

[34:19] While it is desirable for all of the parties to arrive at a consensus budget

[34:23] that is presented to the to town meeting, there is no requirement for the

[34:28] presented bud for presenting such a budget in the event that the elective

[34:33] executive disagrees with some portion of the budget adopted by the advisory

[34:37] committee. >> Yeah, you got

[34:41] » that was a duplicate. >> No. Okay. Yeah.

[34:43] » Yeah, I'll take that. >> In the event that Yeah, that's my my

[34:46] bad. >> It's okay. I had that on my list of

[34:49] edits and I didn't put them in yet. >> All right.

[34:53] » In the event there's such a budget disagreement

[34:56] of of such a budget disagreement, >> the advisory recommendation shall be

[35:00] read onto the floor of the town meeting in the normal process and then advocates

[35:05] for a different sum may make motions related

[35:08] to the amount in the normal process.

[35:14] That's kind of the hub of what we're talking about.

[35:22] I think that gets to your point you were asking Eric

[35:26] like we can come forward with a budget and perhaps if others don't agree with

[35:30] it they have the chance to change it on the floor of town meeting.

[35:34] » Yeah. Now that part that that Yeah. And then so now I think the the the

[35:38] sequence or the cadence of steps when we get involved I think is now it's clear

[35:43] to me that we'll receive it review it recommend submit and then people can

[35:48] agree or not or disagree that's fine but we have our view and that's our view.

[35:54] » Yeah. [clears throat] >> Okay. All right. So then I deleted a

[35:59] whole bunch of stuff. saw that >> is the word some appropriate there at

[36:06] » advocates for >> advocates for a different

[36:09] » you could probably say advocates for changes uh or something like that

[36:15] » or advocates for an alternative budget or something like that.

[36:21] I mean some some just seems a little bit >> ambiguous. Well, we are talking about

[36:28] money and >> yeah, I I I think it is a sum,

[36:34] » but yeah, a different amount would be just as fine.

[36:39] » That may make more sense. Okay. Yeah, different amount. Okay.

[36:49] » All right. [clears throat] >> Then on to 86.

[36:52] » Yep. >> Okay. So all parties under this policy

[36:57] are expected to comply with the annual budget calendar's milestones deadlines

[37:02] when they are set each year. As part of the part of this, department heads and

[37:06] other budget proposers must must in a timely fashion provide the

[37:13] finance director with all of the information needed for the creation of

[37:18] an informative budget document which will be made available to the voters at

[37:22] least 7 days prior to town meeting. >> Does um does the term department heads

[37:29] include the schools? >> It does. Um

[37:35] it up in the U if you go scroll up to the top.

[37:39] » I believe you. I believe you up. >> Yeah. [laughter]

[37:44] Yeah, it was there in the preamble that that was Brian's work, not mine.

[37:50] » I think it's also in the sequence of events, the

[37:53] » Yeah. >> sample calendar.

[37:55] » Yeah. Okay. >> And you can delete the word be in 89.

[38:03] near the end. >> Oh,

[38:06] made available to voters needed for >> which is which is made available.

[38:11] » Oh, sorry. Yeah, it was hiding there on me. Okay. Yep.

[38:18] I think this is very good because I I it seems as if in the past we've, you know,

[38:25] had budgets that went to the town meet. you know, if you pick up the the

[38:29] documents at town meeting, it may be the first you're seeing of this. So, um I'm

[38:35] aware that other towns actually do a mailer to voters like

[38:39] » weeks in advance. So, I think this is a minimum good a good time frame.

[38:45] » And town meetingings should probably be capitalized in 90.

[38:50] » Yes. >> Yep.

[38:53] If we miss any of these, I'll tweak them.

[38:57] Um, all right. >> All right. So then the budget goals,

[39:01] this gets a little soft, but and um at a minimum each year, the town's budget

[39:08] goals include the following from the general fund. The goals for the general

[39:13] fund include assuring that the funds are efficiently and effectively utilized.

[39:18] That was I think that was uh Barry preserving core services, fulfilling

[39:24] required mandates and maintaining and enhancing local quality of life while

[39:30] ensuring reserve levels that allow flexibility to respond to changes in the

[39:34] economy and other unanticipated issues that could potentially affect the

[39:39] town's physical health. >> That's

[39:45] » Yep. >> Okay. Okay. So then capital

[39:49] » Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't change anything there.

[39:53] » Yeah. >> Nor did I change anything under the

[39:56] water enterprise funds. >> Yeah.

[39:59] » Um so then uh the principles for sustained budgets.

[40:07] Um I deleted the first line because yeah. And um assuring that the

[40:15] creation of a budget is structurally balanced and sustainable for future

[40:18] years requires the town to support recurring expenditures in each annual

[40:22] operating budget using only recurring or current revenues. Current revenues are

[40:28] those revenues that the town brings in during the budget budgeted fiscal year

[40:34] and they taxes excise fees yacht and so forth and free c and I added in and free

[40:41] cash. Mhm. >> Um that's kind of that

[40:47] that's that's a this is going to be I think a substantial debate

[40:52] which is good. I I have my own view on free cash which is it's was money we

[40:59] raised in the prior year that we told the voters was absolutely necessary for

[41:05] the town to operate that turned out not to be so. And so I'm adamantly opposed

[41:11] to sort of trying to stick that into little slush funds.

[41:15] » Mhm. >> Um but other people may feel I think you

[41:19] know it ought to be used as quickly as possible because we took it from the

[41:23] taxpayers because we said we absolutely needed it so we better we should use it.

[41:28] That's that's my two cents. >> I mean free free cash went up when town

[41:34] meeting voted to reduce the reserve. Right. That that's that's what it is,

[41:41] right? >> Well, yes, it um it's gone up because

[41:48] we've had some good news uh on a few items and we haven't necessar and uh in

[41:55] a couple of years it was because um we had turnover and you know there were

[42:00] budgets turned back budget money turned back.

[42:04] » So it comes from a variety of sources. I I guess what I'm saying, Al, is if you

[42:09] want, there's always a way to increase your free cash year-over-year.

[42:13] » Yes. >> And and ways were found to offset

[42:20] the lowering of the reserve is is all I'm saying, right? There's a there's a

[42:25] strong desire within certain segments of the town to have this reserve

[42:31] available, which is why Al, you're in for a fight.

[42:36] Yes. And and you know for that matter this body may not agree with me. um you

[42:42] know uh there. So I guess my observation and I I I'm not

[42:49] trying to be uncharitable here is >> the town officials and employees would

[42:57] like to see a bigger reserve fund because it provides them with additional

[43:02] security and

[43:05] » Right. >> And and now who who controls the reserve

[43:08] fund? Uh uh I'm sorry uh the state it's it's

[43:14] not reserve it's stabilization st >> okay yeah okay you use the word right

[43:19] word here >> stabilization yes

[43:21] » yeah we control the reserve fund but it's the stabilization fund and the

[43:25] desire to put >> to to to take the free cash and put it

[43:30] into the stabilization fund >> other words move it from operations to

[43:34] the balance sheet >> yes

[43:36] » right >> and you

[43:40] Yeah, but you know using free cash for that. I mean my my personal opinion is

[43:44] is I mean if if we want to have a stabilization fund, we should create a

[43:48] stabilization fund and fund it to the level that we agree it should be. But

[43:53] using free cash >> stabilization fund strikes me as being a

[43:57] little bit misleading. But that's the point, Larry, is like

[44:07] the the lowering of the of of our reserves

[44:11] resulted in this new policy. Right.

[44:16] » Mhm. >> Yes.

[44:18] » Right. And so

[44:22] um we need to decide if we want to collectively fight this

[44:28] battle or not. Um

[44:34] you know town meeting voted to lower the reserves.

[44:38] Um the town does not want to lower the reserves. So this something that I think

[44:43] people should think about and how they feel about it.

[44:46] » Yeah. Yeah,

[44:49] » line 121. You should get rid of those commas around or current.

[45:04] » All right. >> Yeah. I mean, this is a substantial

[45:08] » Yeah. >> question. You know, I have my my view,

[45:10] which is that, you know, I'm not I'm not a big fan of stabilization funds.

[45:17] Uh, I mean, you have to admit, Al, that they're handy. In certain years, the

[45:22] stabilization fund has helped us avoid >> Prop 2 and a half overrides.

[45:27] » Yeah. >> Yes. Well, we used

[45:30] » I think even just last year. >> Yeah.

[45:33] Yeah. [clears throat] >> But

[45:35] » so, right, I mean, on the one hand, you're

[45:38] taxing people now for a benefit to people in the future, right, which isn't

[45:42] fair. On the other hand, it does give you flexibility.

[45:48] » Although I mean the the the normal use of a stabilization fund is is

[45:55] stabilization. That is to deal with situations where there are potentially

[46:00] large year-to-year changes in a particular area. So for example, special

[46:05] education strikes me as being, you know, a perfect area for a stabilization fund.

[46:10] It's very hard to forecast from year to year and it changes a lot. Um, but you

[46:15] know, most of the things that we budget, you know, salaries for the fire

[46:19] department, you know, we should know what they are. We should be able to

[46:23] budget them. Um, and mo I think most of our line items fall into that category

[46:28] that that we're we're we're smart enough after many years of budgeting to know

[46:33] what the value should be and shouldn't need a large reserve to cover unexpected

[46:38] changes. But there are clearly things like special special education that I

[46:43] believe it makes sense for. >> What order of magnitude of dollars are

[46:48] we talking about? Typically >> couple million.

[46:51] » No, I think the stabilization fund I think has like the last time I looked,

[46:55] which was a while back, was like $600,000,

[46:58] » right? But free cash out. >> Oh, free cash. Yeah, it it typically

[47:02] runs somewhere between one and a half and three million. I mean, it's not it's

[47:07] not chicken feed. No, I say that's not trivial.

[47:10] » Yeah. And stabilization used to be bigger.

[47:12] » Yeah. Several million at one point. >> Yeah. So you guys can piece together

[47:18] like the story of what happened here. >> Uh

[47:21] » so Tim, are you saying that we used to have an official stabilization fund?

[47:25] » We still do. It just used to be fun. >> Okay. But now it's just called free

[47:30] cash. >> Yes. There was a there was a large

[47:32] debate a long time ago to lower the stabilization because

[47:38] you're basically holding citizens money >> instead of letting citizens have their

[47:42] money. >> Right.

[47:44] » Right. >> And the citizens chose citizens that

[47:47] town meeting chose to take their money back.

[47:50] » Okay. >> Yeah.

[47:52] » But the finance process I mean like any company you have some level I mean I I

[47:56] use the term contingency is what I'm used to for from finance. did some

[47:59] contingency is a good thing just to your point the flexibility but I guess the

[48:05] quantum tam as you say people didn't they wanted their money back but at some

[48:08] point you have to have some money for for unknowns of course. Yeah.

[48:13] » Yeah. >> Well we so we do have the reserve fund

[48:17] and and most years we don't spend the majority of that.

[48:24] » Yeah. You know, I think in the last couple

[48:28] years we've done a little better or worse depending on on your point of

[48:32] view, but you know, where where did the reserve fund end up this year?

[48:40] Do you do you recall? >> Yeah, I think we had two I think Tim was

[48:44] right. Like $2 million. Oh, the reserve fund. I'm sorry. Um I had it written

[48:50] down from last meeting. One second. [clears throat]

[48:53] » Did we say 180? I think it's >> I think it was 180.

[48:57] » We have 180. And how much do we actually spend out of that?

[49:01] » Uh I think it was 72. >> Yeah. And that that's that's pretty

[49:06] normal. >> Yeah. I mean,

[49:08] » we could certainly argue about the reserve fund and whether that's an

[49:12] appropriate amount. I think that's, you know, that's that's that's

[49:18] a debate that should happen within the budget process.

[49:24] It it's I think it's true that last year having free cash did prevent us from

[49:31] laying people off. >> Yeah.

[49:34] » Yeah. >> Yeah.

[49:38] » But that's not I mean, you know, I'm not advocating laying people off, but using

[49:44] free cash to prevent it simply pushes the problem to the following year.

[49:51] Um, and This is your free cash uh in doing so. So it it if if you

[50:00] if if you don't treat it in in a reasonable way, all you're doing is

[50:05] pushing it off and avoiding the eventually you're going to have to do

[50:09] the thing that you're trying to avoid anyway.

[50:12] » Yes. Eventually you're going to have to either lay people off or cut capital.

[50:18] » Well, or or have a two and a half override.

[50:20] » Or two and a half override, right? which has never

[50:23] » you know well yeah and you know we're knocking on that door this year

[50:28] » or next year um >> right

[50:32] » but you know yes I think it would be proper to say that the use of free cash

[50:36] allowed us to delay requesting a two and a half override by

[50:41] by a year >> and

[50:49] all right um well let's let's Let's press onward and

[50:54] » yeah, this is obviously >> one

[50:57] » a big one. Let's see then. Um I didn't change much other than sort of changing

[51:05] the the tents which Larry provided us in in the next section.

[51:11] » Yep.

[51:15] with the exception of um you know when the forecast predicts that annual

[51:21] revenues will exceed annual expenditures which as near as I can tell is never

[51:26] going to happen. [laughter]

[51:31] We could explore uh levy reductions. Just tax relief was

[51:37] » um >> I think it would be it would be more

[51:40] helpful if we did the opposite exercise.

[51:49] I mean when uh the forecast predicts the revenues will will will fall short of

[51:55] expected expenditures.

[52:01] Yeah. What's our what's is is should we have a policy about

[52:06] the priorities of >> right

[52:11] » where >> right because because there are options

[52:13] right you can you can abandon a level service model

[52:19] you can purs you know pursue layoffs you can abandon capital like there are you

[52:26] can you can say screw it let's just have an override right Yeah.

[52:32] » Are you suggesting we should add a line like another number here with the

[52:37] opposite or no? >> I just I just have a feeling that the

[52:41] town like the the near the near future advisory and select boards are going and

[52:46] school boards are going to have to talk about this anyway.

[52:49] » And I think it's a great idea. I think adding it in there for complete

[52:53] visibility I think will be there would be very helpful.

[52:57] » Yeah. And this is partly why I feel so

[53:01] strongly that advisory should be on the call when the initial financial policies

[53:07] are being set for the year. >> Mhm.

[53:11] » Yep. >> So we would uh have a section

[53:16] six. >> Yeah. Exactly.

[53:20] » Yeah. I think that's important. I mean number number five basically tells you

[53:25] all the things that you should do in a very low probability event and we don't

[53:29] say what you should do in a high probability event. [laughter]

[53:33] » So how do we want to phrase this guys like when a a forecast predicts annual

[53:36] revenues to >> fall short

[53:39] » fall short or I'll come up with a better word later but fall short

[53:43] » just reverse the words from the previous line annual expenses to exceed annual

[53:48] revenues. Yeah, just >> okay.

[53:50] » Just reverse the two items from the previous one.

[53:53] » Copy paste it and just move a couple words around.

[53:58] » Revenue >> expenses

[54:00] » annual expend annual expenditures to exceed annual revenues

[54:08] or or expected annual revenues or or with Yeah, that's probably fine.

[54:14] » We can tweak it a little bit. >> Yes.

[54:18] Yeah,

[54:21] » I heard uh >> uh

[54:24] » abandoned level service. >> So consider cuts in service levels

[54:31] » of reductions in service levels.

[54:38] » Something like that. >> Cut back on capital plans. Yeah. Yeah.

[54:45] um

[54:50] layoffs. >> Oh, you could say uh tableabling new

[54:54] initiatives. >> Mhm.

[55:01] » You could say hiring free slash >> just placements.

[55:08] » Yeah, I think we're going to talk about that a little more later as well, but

[55:11] » yeah, I agree. Hiring freeze. And what else did you say, Tim? Sorry.

[55:15] » Lash displacements. >> Are payraises generally contractually

[55:19] obligated? >> Yep.

[55:21] » Generally, >> they're [clears throat] not going to

[55:23] touch that. >> Most of our most of our employees are

[55:26] unionized and >> Yeah.

[55:28] » Yeah. So, there's >> Yep. You're not going to touch that.

[55:32] » And then you should add override as a bullet.

[55:38] » What? Tax increases and overrides. >> Yeah.

[55:46] And in the headerline six, I would add um just like five um after the word

[55:54] revenues, I'd say, comma, the following options should be considered

[55:59] um to address the shortfall or something like that.

[56:06] » Should Sorry, not me. been doing a better job at typing than I

[56:11] ever would in real time. [laughter] >> Considered to address

[56:16] » I don't know the short call. >> Yeah.

[56:19] » Yeah. We're having a short callus.

[56:26] » I don't mind typing. It's hard not to see anybody. [laughter]

[56:31] Um, so hopefully I'm not >> The other thing I think we might want to

[56:34] say is um

[56:38] financing versus uh expendit expend what's the right word

[56:48] fin for capital items. Uh >> you mean

[56:52] » expensing for for reductions of capital plan and financing options.

[56:58] » Okay. Would sell assets ever be seriously considered for a budget

[57:03] shortfall? >> Yeah.

[57:04] » Yeah. >> Yes.

[57:07] » Okay. >> We're going to sell Main Street between

[57:10] Levama and um [laughter]

[57:18] » I mean just for clarity obviously town owned assets. Yeah.

[57:21] » Yeah.

[57:28] All right.

[57:32] » Yeah, that's a good point. >> Uh, you know, the other one is would be

[57:35] uh transfers from stabilization

[57:41] » or free cash. >> Sorry,

[57:44] » I'm going to put that down here. Transfers from stabilization.

[57:49] That's >> pretty fun.

[57:52] » Okay.

[58:03] Yeah, that's helpful. That >> any others? Yeah, this is very helpful.

[58:06] » Yeah. Um, what do you think of regionalization?

[58:11] » Uh, we can certainly talk about alternative uh forms of organization.

[58:19] » Yeah. Should

[58:26] I say organizational structure or something like that or

[58:29] » Sure.

[58:35] » Yep.

[58:38] » Okay. So then number seven, >> okay,

[58:42] » is board of assessors will vote to authorize a contribution to the overlay

[58:49] account to offset the town's liability for unpaid property taxes caused by

[58:54] abatements and exemptions. This amount should be based on the these those three

[58:59] factors. That's kind of that's up to the board of assessors.

[59:06] Then, um, the budget calendar, I really didn't change much of anything in this,

[59:13] » except for I misspelled publish. >> Publishes

[59:19] » line 179. Yeah. >> Yeah.

[59:22] » Yep. I think that's already fixed when we do the direct changes. We'll get rid

[59:26] of that. All right.

[59:30] sample calendar I

[59:35] » and um that that was the end of my you know I

[59:40] propo I would propose that we delete the appendix although I think it was very

[59:45] helpful >> I um that was my biggest comment Al um

[59:50] on my document is this required I feel like it creates confusion I think it's

[59:56] helpful for the review process but I don't think we would want it in the

[59:59] final document. It's just my two cents. >> Yeah, I agree. We've got the citations

[1:00:05] to all the authorities are there. We don't need to

[1:00:08] » just lay all this out there. >> Yeah. Okay. It's advised we agree that

[1:00:14] collectively the maybe remove the appendix what we were referring to as

[1:00:19] appendix. Okay. >> You got the citations as

[1:00:24] » was mentioned. >> It would end here then at at six.

[1:00:26] » Yeah. >> Yeah. I think that's better. It's the

[1:00:30] rest was just a lot of stuff. >> Okay.

[1:00:35] All right. I'm going to stop sharing for a second. Well, any final Does anyone

[1:00:39] want to look at this again? Any final? We'll get a

[1:00:44] » I I draft over, but go ahead. >> On the the calendar that's there.

[1:00:49] » Yeah. Um, I didn't scrutinize it, but is that the calendar from the old days or

[1:00:54] is that the calendar from when we when we meet

[1:00:58] collectively on Saturday on a Saturday to review to

[1:01:03] to talk to department heads. I feel like it's an all well here it is

[1:01:09] like the 28th of February advisory meet with department heads but I didn't see

[1:01:14] unless someone else did like the Saturday

[1:01:19] » as we call it I think it's an old version Tim probably

[1:01:22] » this is just a sample I think I don't we treat this as

[1:01:28] » what does it do we say this is a sample >> yeah I think it does it says that

[1:01:34] Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you.

[1:01:38] » Yep. Any other

[1:01:43] clarifying uh questions or comments?

[1:01:50] All right, I'm going to stop sharing this one.

[1:02:03] Let's see. I'm back. Um,

[1:02:08] thank you guys for that. Uh, the next one,

[1:02:11] where are we at on time board? 8:41. So, the next one will not uh be

[1:02:17] discussed, you know, anytime soon I think at the uh select board and it's

[1:02:23] also our policy. So, but it's also very much uh a shorter document. So, does

[1:02:28] everybody agree to push ahead? You want to review the reserve fund tonight?

[1:02:34] thoughts. I couldn't hear anybody say anything.

[1:02:39] [laughter] Okay. All right. Hold on a second. Let

[1:02:42] me find the document.

[1:02:46] Let's see here.

[1:02:51] The

[1:03:00] actually I don't think I have the review document with one second let me find it.

[1:03:12] I think you mailed it out just a little while ago. So

[1:03:16] » I have the original but not the edits pulled up. I did. I had the edits. I

[1:03:20] didn't have the edits pulled up. One second. All right. Now I found it.

[1:03:27] Larry, I'm gonna let you talk some about this if you don't mind since you

[1:03:31] » since you provided some uh helpful edits here. Think I have the right screen.

[1:03:37] » Put the line number on.

[1:03:39] » Yeah, we'll put the line on again. Okay.

[1:03:47] Actually, do we need the Let me see. I'll try to do that.

[1:03:59] All right. >> Back of a cursor you got there.

[1:04:04] [laughter] >> I know. Don't ask me why it's like that.

[1:04:08] It's a long story, but I'll tell you later.

[1:04:10] » It changes the meaning of the term Ibeam.

[1:04:12] » I know it. I know it. Um, so again, I'll uh Yeah, I'll tell you guys later. next

[1:04:17] week in in person. All right. Uh Larry, you wanna

[1:04:23] » help lead the discussion on this one? >> So, um in the first section here, you

[1:04:27] know, again, this was the first time I read this and it could just be, you

[1:04:31] know, that I don't have a lot of context, but I just thought that this

[1:04:36] seemed to just be a lot of disconnected pieces with terms

[1:04:40] um that, you know, referred to things that I wasn't quite sure of. So, um, you

[1:04:47] know, for example, number two, it says a copy of meeting agendas. The the

[1:04:52] advisory committee sends the town administrator a copy of meeting agendas.

[1:04:56] What meetings are we talking about um there? Um,

[1:05:04] » I mean, it would it would be our our schedule, right?

[1:05:12] » I agree with you. I'm not even sure what that means, but

[1:05:16] um >> I mean I'm I'm this is in the context of

[1:05:19] somebody requesting a reserve fund transfer.

[1:05:22] » Um >> I think it means like after we vote

[1:05:26] um we would send a copy of the we we would have it on the agenda. We would

[1:05:30] send a copy of the agenda and then I think we have to send a copy of the

[1:05:35] minutes. the the the process I think is that

[1:05:40] we inform the the the town administrator when we will act on the request

[1:05:48] which is typically via the agenda >> agenda.

[1:05:53] » So it would be a copy of the meeting agenda addressing the request

[1:06:02] and p

[1:06:07] should be agenda. >> Yeah.

[1:06:12] » Okay. All right. Thank you. >> The ne the next one I I just thought it

[1:06:17] should say uh when the request is scheduled to be discussed.

[1:06:22] We're we're not scheduling the request. We're scheduling the discussion I think.

[1:06:27] Right. >> So is scheduled for discussion.

[1:06:32] » Yeah. >> Yeah.

[1:06:36] Okay. >> Um then the next one

[1:06:41] um what I Okay. Does not identify other

[1:06:46] sources for the requested funds. Oh, instead of saying identifies no other

[1:06:50] sources for the funds requested, which seems like somewhat tortured wording, I

[1:06:56] think something like does not identify other sources for the requested funds.

[1:07:02] Yeah.

[1:07:05] Okay.

[1:07:14] » If the town administrator does not identify other sources for the requested

[1:07:18] funds, >> I'm I'm sort of baffled by that whole

[1:07:22] sentence. >> He only comes to us if he hasn't

[1:07:25] identified. >> Yeah, that's that's a good point.

[1:07:28] » Yeah. I said I would say the town administrators expected to explore other

[1:07:33] sources of funds prior to the making this request.

[1:07:37] » I mean we we've had we've had people come to us with requests and then they

[1:07:43] got it somewhere else like it's it's kind of like a push back

[1:07:49] make it's kind of a you know you sure are you sure you don't have the money in

[1:07:54] your budget? Are you sure there isn't an inter departmental transfer you can do?

[1:07:58] Um, do you really need advisories reserve?

[1:08:02] That's what that's what that is, I think.

[1:08:08] » Well, so um, >> should we leave it like that or do you

[1:08:11] want more of a declarative statement? I'd make it more declarative which is

[1:08:15] the town administrator is responsible for identifying if other sources of

[1:08:20] funding are available >> or or that there are no other sources of

[1:08:25] funding available prior to making this request.

[1:08:29] » I mean it would not be number four then right? would

[1:08:33] » well I would delete number four and say and and replace it with the town

[1:08:39] administrator is res responsible for making sure that no other sources of

[1:08:44] funding are available for this request. >> Yeah. I mean it seems to me it should be

[1:08:50] between one and two,

[1:08:54] » right? you it >> we shouldn't get the request until the

[1:09:00] town administrator has done this >> right

[1:09:02] » yes yeah you're right >> right so it should be after one it

[1:09:08] should be number two I guess >> right

[1:09:13] » advisory committee so after say should be number two basically

[1:09:30] Yeah. So I think it should say if if if the town administrator cannot identify

[1:09:37] other sources for the requested funds, it notifies

[1:09:43] the advisory he notifi or he she it notifies the advisory committee. um and

[1:09:50] somehow combine it with number number four about comments. I'm not sure how

[1:09:55] that plays into the whole thing. Um

[1:10:01] » okay. So the town administrator is responsible for identifying no other

[1:10:06] sources of >> No. Well,

[1:10:08] » that doesn't make sense. that. No. >> If if the [laughter] if the town if the

[1:10:12] town identifier if the town administrator cannot identify other

[1:10:17] sources

[1:10:23] cannot identify other sources for the requested funds.

[1:10:40] other sources for the requested funds. Uh the town administrator forwards the

[1:10:46] request to the advisory committee with comments if appropriate.

[1:10:53] » Supportment. >> Yeah. I mean I would

[1:10:56] » supporting documentation, right? >> Yeah. I would take advisory committee

[1:11:00] out of number one, >> right? It goes to the town

[1:11:04] administrator. He determines whether there's no other available funds and

[1:11:09] only then does he send it to advisory. >> Yes.

[1:11:13] » But that's good call. >> Yes.

[1:11:20] » And supporting documentation. >> Yes. to the advisory committee.

[1:11:27] Um and then

[1:11:31] um number four can go away completely now I think.

[1:11:36] » Yeah. >> I'm sorry my computer's up here.

[1:11:43] » And then we can say um actually the current number four I think can also go

[1:11:50] away.

[1:11:57] And number three probably makes sense to say the advisory committee notifies the

[1:12:02] town administrator. Um

[1:12:06] » I think we just notify the town administrator and let him

[1:12:10] » notifies the town administrator of the meeting of of the meeting at which the

[1:12:15] request will be discussed or something like that.

[1:12:18] » Yeah.

[1:12:23] notifies the town administrator of the date of the meeting that the request

[1:12:29] will be discussed.

[1:12:37] » Well, let's see at the meeting uh

[1:12:43] when discussed. >> Yeah. At which at which the request is

[1:12:47] will be discussed.

[1:12:53] Okay. So, I think this this sequence now makes sense

[1:13:00] » and and the only change I had to number four was I think affirmative is better

[1:13:05] than positive there. But it's a minor. I think it's just a following vote.

[1:13:17] » Following an affirmative vote. That would be the only time we would sign the

[1:13:21] form, right? Or or >> Okay.

[1:13:27] » And it doesn't require unanimous. It's just simple majority.

[1:13:31] » Yes. >> Majority.

[1:13:35] And I would send it just to the town administrator and let him distribute it,

[1:13:39] you know, rather than putting the administrator. We should not don't put

[1:13:44] the administrative burden on us. >> Mhm.

[1:13:48] » Okay. >> Yeah.

[1:13:50] » Just say sends a copy to the town administrator.

[1:13:57] » Yep.

[1:14:01] for I don't know distribution or Yeah.

[1:14:13] » Okay. And I'll I'll let you worry about all of the bold letters in number two

[1:14:17] later. Yeah, I'll take I'll [laughter] take

[1:14:21] » um I didn't >> I didn't have anything in the paragraph

[1:14:26] at 17 or 22. Um on 29 I suggested that you put after

[1:14:33] uh Department of Revenue uh put do in parentheses because you use that later.

[1:14:40] » Yeah. >> Uh in the document.

[1:14:47] Oh, sorry. Did we need typos here? >> Um, and then another minor issue in 37.

[1:14:58] In all of the other places, you had 40 section six without spaces between them.

[1:15:03] And here you put spaces in. >> Okay.

[1:15:07] » And

[1:15:13] I think it's out without. Okay. >> Yep. Um,

[1:15:17] another minor thing, uh, I would in 43 I would set off in essence, [snorts]

[1:15:23] uh, with commas, um,

[1:15:32] since it's it's descriptive. And then in

[1:15:38] 54 I thought it was ambiguous the way it was written and it said and should not

[1:15:44] be used for any other purpose or be transferred to the reserve back into the

[1:15:48] reserve fund. I could easily read that as also saying and should not be

[1:15:52] transferred back into the reserve fund. >> Yeah, we need a comma. So, uh, I

[1:15:57] suggested that we, um, if you click on my comment to see

[1:16:03] the suggested wording, I think, um, yeah, so I suggested that we break

[1:16:10] it into two sentences. Um, any unexpected balance should should be

[1:16:14] earmarked or transferred back into the reserve fund. Period. They should not be

[1:16:18] used for another purpose. And that gets rid of the ambiguity.

[1:16:23] Let's copy that over.

[1:16:30] Sorry

[1:16:35] all the way back to any at the beginning of that line.

[1:16:47] Um, >> of course I command Z. We're out.

[1:16:52] » And well, do a command Z.

[1:16:57] » Oh, now you can't do a command Z. Okay.

[1:17:01] » Sorry. Sorry. >> Control.

[1:17:04] » You're trying to do an undo. >> Well, I wanted to undo it and do a paste

[1:17:08] and match style so that you didn't get the strange font.

[1:17:16] » I don't think it's gonna let me do it now. Well, do I'll do it.

[1:17:27] didn't work. Okay. >> Well, I can do want later. I'll do it

[1:17:31] later. It's fine. >> Okay. Um

[1:17:35] and then in 60 you want to capitalize reserve fund.

[1:17:40] » Can we go to 56? >> Sure.

[1:17:44] » I would make it stronger. I wouldn't say should always be worded

[1:17:49] to request funds. I would say requests should always be for unpaid or future

[1:17:54] expenses.

[1:18:08] » Is that right? What you were asking, Tim?

[1:18:10] » Yeah. Like don't buy a car and then come back to us asking for us to pay for it.

[1:18:16] Yeah.

[1:18:20] » Sorry.

[1:18:23] » All right. >> All right.

[1:18:25] » Okay. >> Actually, uh let's go back to that one

[1:18:28] again. It shouldn't even be for unpaid.

[1:18:33] You should not be making a commitment. Unpaid means that you've already bought

[1:18:37] it. >> Yeah, that's true.

[1:18:40] should be for should always be for future expenses not reimbursed

[1:18:47] versing an account for expenses that have already been paid or otherwise

[1:18:51] encumbered. >> Yes.

[1:19:05] » I think that's a good change. >> That makes sense.

[1:19:08] Yeah.

[1:19:12] » All right. >> Okay. Um

[1:19:21] 64 >> you capitalize the G and 63.

[1:19:28] » Oh yeah. >> Or do you or or do you leave it lower

[1:19:30] case? >> No, I think it's

[1:19:32] » it's a title still. Sure. >> Title.

[1:19:35] Um, request for transfer from the reserve should be completed and full

[1:19:40] signed. And I asked what prepared meant >> seems like an extra word that didn't

[1:19:45] really add much,

[1:19:49] » right? Presented to the advisory maybe would be a better way of saying it, but

[1:19:55] » um, yeah, that would work. Should be completed in full, signed and present.

[1:20:01] No, it's presented to the town administrator. administrator. Sorry,

[1:20:07] [laughter] >> that was number that was number one at

[1:20:09] the top.

[1:20:22] » All right. >> And then I had a comment on 72. Just a

[1:20:28] little wording thing. I thought at which it was better than where where the

[1:20:33] request is scheduled. Uh it I think at which the request is

[1:20:38] the meeting at which the request is scheduled.

[1:20:42] » I I don't like lines 74 and 75.

[1:20:48] » Okay. If the advisory committee has major questions that cannot be answered

[1:20:51] is very likely that the request will be deferred or rejected.

[1:20:54] » That's fine. >> Okay. If being present is a hardship.

[1:21:00] » Yeah, I feel like someone has to be there.

[1:21:03] » Yeah, >> I would just get rid of that.

[1:21:06] » I mean, the distinction between major versus any other question. I mean, I

[1:21:09] guess it's probably nit, but what defines a major question versus not?

[1:21:16] » We can get rid of the word major, too. >> So, take this out. Correct.

[1:21:22] » Yeah. >> Yeah. I mean there there certainly have

[1:21:25] been cases where you know uh

[1:21:31] it was a fairly minor request and it was you know the documentation was more than

[1:21:35] sufficient. >> So there's no hard and fast rule

[1:21:38] somebody has to attend or >> and with Zoom it's made it an awful lot

[1:21:44] easier. >> Right.

[1:21:48] » Also occasionally this has been presented multiple times in different

[1:21:52] meetings. So, we had the information um in advance. We were aware of the

[1:21:57] request like you said. It didn't we didn't need somebody to there. But

[1:22:01] taking it out makes sense. That way you don't have to

[1:22:04] » Yeah. And we and we've by by putting the word suggest in line 71, we've we've

[1:22:09] left it open. You know, we basically said exactly

[1:22:11] » this would be a really good idea, right? But if you can't do it, you know, you

[1:22:15] just run the risk of us rejecting or deferring,

[1:22:18] » right? >> Yep.

[1:22:22] Um >> and then 77 special town meeting should

[1:22:31] » um and then the same thing in 80 for annual town meeting.

[1:22:38] » Oops.

[1:22:44] All right. >> And

[1:22:53] I can't see my next comment, but it's >> it's it's on that line. It's on line 82

[1:22:59] with what did it say? Uh this is worded funny. Um after

[1:23:05] several years of additional funds needed. Um yeah. So I would say

[1:23:11] something like after several years of requests for the same or similar

[1:23:16] purposes. >> Yeah.

[1:23:25] It would f you'd be in danger of failing the uh unexpected or unusual standard

[1:23:32] for requests.

[1:23:37] » It say purposes. >> Yeah. Yeah. It may be difficult for the

[1:23:42] advisor to consider um the request as extraordinary or

[1:23:48] unforeseen. You can get rid of now the line another request for the same reason

[1:23:53] in 83 and just change that uh to consider the request

[1:24:00] as extraordinary or unforeseen.

[1:24:08] » Okay. And then the last one I think you can strike may or may not in 87

[1:24:15] um whether the reserve funds

[1:24:21] are available. >> Yeah.

[1:24:25] » Okay. That's all I had. >> Yeah, I looked I liked all of your

[1:24:30] comments, Larry. So, um I had sent this out to everyone as is. I I didn't

[1:24:35] receive any other feedback on this one yet, but we we do have time. So,

[1:24:39] » the only other thing that I would do, I think I noted was in the first two

[1:24:43] titles, you have a colon at the end, and that's just a strange place for a colon.

[1:24:48] » Yeah, I agree. Yeah, >> this isn't my document, but [laughter]

[1:24:53] » I have a I have a potential suggestion to consider.

[1:24:57] » Okay. Um, if the request is for a capital item, then we should at least

[1:25:03] invite CIPC.

[1:25:09] » Sorry, that was screwing up. I'll take that out. Um,

[1:25:15] we always do that. Are you suggesting it should be listed here somewhere?

[1:25:18] » Yeah, I think that's probably reasonable.

[1:25:23] And in that case, it should probably be up in that initial part under the

[1:25:27] process. >> Yeah,

[1:25:30] you could put it here. Maybe like

[1:25:34] » um >> capital request may trigger a joint

[1:25:37] meeting with capital CIPC.

[1:25:42] Well, you could just put a parentheses after the town administrator

[1:25:48] and [clears throat] say and capital uh in cases of requests for capital items.

[1:25:58] » Are you talking here? Just put a bullet number four

[1:26:02] » or number three in between said in the event that the request is for a capital

[1:26:07] item, the town administrator shall also notify the CIP, the capital planning

[1:26:13] committee.

[1:26:19] Not there. I think it goes. Okay. >> I think I think it's a new number three.

[1:26:24] So we now

[1:26:29] Does the town administrator Does the town administrator notify the capital

[1:26:33] committee or do we >> I I let the town administrator

[1:26:38] do the work. He gets paid. >> So we

[1:26:43] » So >> do you want it between two and three as

[1:26:46] a new number three or between? >> That was what I was suggesting.

[1:26:49] » Okay. >> I think

[1:26:53] um if the request is a capital item.

[1:27:00] The town administrator

[1:27:05] notifies

[1:27:09] capital sorry

[1:27:16] improvement. It's improvement right?

[1:27:21] » I think so. >> Okay. [laughter]

[1:27:24] » Thank Would it make sense rather than saying notifies

[1:27:28] also forwards the request to so it's sort of parallel to what's in line two?

[1:27:35] » It's it's CIPC. >> I'm sorry.

[1:27:39] » Right. Right.

[1:27:44] » I'll double check the exact >> It's a capital improvement.

[1:27:49] » Improvement and planning. Okay. >> I think

[1:27:52] » capital improvement. I always call it capital planning. So I'm probably um

[1:27:56] » So they used to call themselves CPC. >> I know.

[1:27:59] » That's why, right? >> That's why I'm so confused. Okay.

[1:28:02] » Yeah. >> All right. I'll I'll double check that.

[1:28:05] But I think that makes sense to be here. Should I say capital expenditure or

[1:28:10] capital instead of item? Capital expenditure.

[1:28:16] » I think that's fine. >> Capital item. Leave it as. Well, how

[1:28:20] about if the request is for a capital item,

[1:28:24] » right? >> All right.

[1:28:27] » So, the request isn't a capital item. It's

[1:28:31] » Thanks, Larry. >> All right.

[1:28:37] » All right. That looks good. >> We'll have to We'll have to make certain

[1:28:39] CIPC doesn't think that they're the ones approving it,

[1:28:43] » right? But, you know, just like the the um

[1:28:48] the truck that we approved, it it was vetted through capital first. They they

[1:28:53] voted on it, then it came to us. So, this is the process that I think we've

[1:28:57] normally been following as well. But it just I agree like ultimately

[1:29:02] » to the capital improvement committee for their review.

[1:29:06] » Yeah. Okay. >> Yeah. I don't see I don't I don't think

[1:29:09] CIPC should do any work until we've at least indicated that we're

[1:29:15] potentially going to approve it.

[1:29:21] » I think that's one where the chairs talk speak to each other and

[1:29:25] » yeah, it could it could make sense to do it

[1:29:30] either way depending on the request. I think

[1:29:36] um

[1:29:39] Tim, are you suggesting we move four up to three and three down to four? If

[1:29:44] that's the case, if that's No, no, no. Sorry.

[1:29:47] » Okay. Okay. >> I I don't know if I would put the, you

[1:29:51] know, the sequence here. It doesn't, you know, it could

[1:29:56] » it could happen different ways for different things.

[1:30:03] Okay, I will

[1:30:08] I think stop sharing for now. Go back.

[1:30:16] Can see you guys again. Thank you for your patience with my typing and my big

[1:30:20] mouse and shaky keyboard here. We got a lot done. Um, I'll get out the um,

[1:30:29] revised what I will call drafts to everybody

[1:30:33] and pass those along for sort of a final

[1:30:38] review before we vote maybe at our next meeting.

[1:30:42] Also, there's members missing, so we'll give them a chance to weigh in. Everyone

[1:30:46] agrees that next step. Okay. All right. All right. Moving on then to number four

[1:30:54] on our list of items tonight is the FY28 budget proposed override. U just a quick

[1:31:01] recap. Uh select board had a a very high level discussion on this on July 7th. Uh

[1:31:08] Brian Balentine is working on projected budgets for 28 293032 according to the

[1:31:14] minutes of that meeting or the the recording of that meeting. Uh we are

[1:31:18] invited to attend the select board meeting joint have a joint meeting with

[1:31:22] select board next week uh on the 11th to discuss a few things. um as I understand

[1:31:30] them and after discussing them as well with the chair of select board um the

[1:31:36] sort of the idea of that meeting is sort of providing some more info on the

[1:31:41] process uh and advisory to have input into and an get questions answered if

[1:31:48] there's um sort of a way of doing that within the group also what each

[1:31:52] department will need to put together or what would be the expectations and the

[1:31:57] overall philosophy uh and is there any concurrence on that

[1:32:01] in terms of either if there is an override what does that look like? Um so

[1:32:07] in summary of our last meeting um feel free to chime in if anyone has other

[1:32:12] things they wanted to add but I have written down our recommendations or our

[1:32:16] thoughts so far in general terms were um advisory would uh like to have a set of

[1:32:23] expectations for increased efficiency from every department. Uh we want to

[1:32:28] review the possibilities of combining combining any departments possible which

[1:32:35] has been thought about and talked about but not really uh tackled and we would

[1:32:40] like to look more at how to deliver the same set of services for level service

[1:32:47] or less um things like payroll automation etc.

[1:32:52] And we did discuss potential um our thoughts on whether or not we would be

[1:32:59] in support of a shorter duration such as one year versus a five-year sort of um

[1:33:06] $10 million override that would occur over five years upfront in terms of the

[1:33:11] proposal and vote upfront uh versus um a shorter duration. uh and we would like

[1:33:17] to see options if that's the case.

[1:33:22] So I I don't know if that's helpful. Does

[1:33:26] anyone have any other things to add? Did I miss anything from last time just in

[1:33:30] terms of setting the stage for tonight's sort of initial thoughts?

[1:33:35] » How? >> Um so I think you know one of the things

[1:33:40] I think we need to give serious consideration to

[1:33:44] is a hiring freeze. Yeah.

[1:33:47] » Um, you know, I I I I I'm reluctant to extend offers to people with the

[1:33:56] knowledge that the sources of revenue to support those

[1:34:02] those payrolls are um unclear.

[1:34:08] And so the other thing that a hiring freeze does is it provides

[1:34:14] um [snorts] flexibility in the event that an override did not

[1:34:20] pass. Um in terms of you know essentially pro

[1:34:27] it provides a measure of protection for the our existing employees if we are

[1:34:33] operating at less than our full staffing levels we get a degree of

[1:34:40] uh flexibility then um and the other thing I think

[1:34:47] we are that sort of a companion to that is

[1:34:52] Every open position ought to be reviewed and approved by an executive by the

[1:34:58] relevant executive prior to posting. And particularly this

[1:35:05] is particularly true for people who are administrators

[1:35:11] or department heads because those are opportunities for departmental

[1:35:15] consolidation. I think we had one of those a few la last year and we did not

[1:35:20] take advantage of that. >> And so, um, I think we need to be,

[1:35:26] » you know, I I don't want to be the guy that that hires somebody and then six

[1:35:31] months later lays them off. That's that that's not being a responsible employer

[1:35:36] in in my mind. So to piggyback on that, El, I agree

[1:35:42] with you. Um on on the premise of this, it's one of

[1:35:48] the items that I have had listed here in my notes to discuss on the 11th. Um and

[1:35:54] particularly when it comes to backfilling if someone leaves um you

[1:36:00] know I think there should be some sort of process for vetting the need of that

[1:36:04] resource uh redistribution of those functions to others if possible or

[1:36:10] consolidation and I had raised this in a public comment on a select board meeting

[1:36:15] uh relative I think to the position you were mentioning Al um that's pretty

[1:36:19] standard issue it in many places. Uh, and I would agree if we're looking at

[1:36:24] overrides, I think we should be doing more of that. Um, if somebody is

[1:36:29] promoted, is their back fill needed, uh, as an example. So, and and sort of the

[1:36:34] the case, not just a automatic we we've always had this, we're always going to

[1:36:40] have it kind of thing. Um, so I I concur with that as an initial thought. I don't

[1:36:47] know if others want to chime in. I I would I would suggest that maybe

[1:36:53] we we spent some time on our policy tonight talking about things that we

[1:36:56] should consider when times are bad. >> Yep, we did.

[1:37:00] » Yeah. And so that we should we should roll the conversation back to that

[1:37:04] because instead of just proceeding with an override conversation, right, we

[1:37:08] listed how many things that should be considered.

[1:37:12] » I think it was six. >> Yeah.

[1:37:14] » Six or seven. >> Yeah. And so I don't I don't know that

[1:37:17] we should proceed with just the override solution at this time. I think we should

[1:37:22] really dig into which of those six or what combination makes the most sense.

[1:37:30] » Yeah. >> And I think the framework is helpful. So

[1:37:32] I'm glad that we put that down on paper at least in the

[1:37:36] draft. >> Go ahead. curiosity since you know I'm

[1:37:39] I'm relatively I mean this is I think my third year on advisory but I'm

[1:37:44] relatively new to the process um just in terms of identifying where the issues

[1:37:53] really are do we ever I mean looking at it analytically um it

[1:38:00] seems to me that you know the first thing I would do is say okay you know

[1:38:04] these six line items are, you know, 90% of the budget. I

[1:38:10] don't know how whether it's six or 10 or four, but there's probably, you know, a

[1:38:15] relatively small number of line items that constitute a large portion of the

[1:38:20] budget. Do we ever sort of take those and say, okay, we're going to go back

[1:38:24] five years and figure out what the growth trend is for that budget to

[1:38:30] identify which ones really are the problem. You know, if we if we look at

[1:38:34] the police department, for example, and say, well, it's grown pretty steadily at

[1:38:37] 1% a year. I know that's not the case, but then, you know, we can see, well,

[1:38:42] that's probably not the problem. You know, the school budgets been growing

[1:38:47] exponentially. It's been going up, you know, 26% a year. And, um, you know,

[1:38:52] using past data to try to foresee where the problems really are rather than just

[1:38:58] ri pushing back on everything necessarily. Um,

[1:39:03] I don't know if we if we do things like that or not or whether we're just

[1:39:07] looking at it in the moment, which is >> all I've seen to date other than for

[1:39:13] capital. >> Yeah. Well, I think there's a potential

[1:39:17] to do both. Um, >> you know, certainly

[1:39:21] where I work, that's what we do, but we do both at the same time.

[1:39:25] » Yeah. I think your point is like I think Al's point around and the higher that's

[1:39:30] a process consideration around which I think is a good process to use I

[1:39:33] completely agree do you need to backfill if somebody departs that's and then

[1:39:37] you're getting at sort of understanding trends which like I agree is probably a

[1:39:41] separate point very valuable but not a process consideration per se but I I

[1:39:46] very much agree that those are very two and I think it will be very well

[1:39:50] received by the public for to have that put out there explicitly in addition to

[1:39:55] the point we just put in our proposal that section six. I think it will be

[1:39:59] very helpful for people to see that this is that that component is getting

[1:40:04] attention [snorts] versus just thinking about the revenue side as the cost side.

[1:40:08] » Yeah. Y

[1:40:11] » I I did also um I think this was actually Tim's idea of um potentially

[1:40:17] looking at at a at a debt exclusion borrowing

[1:40:22] um for our pension liabilities and I I just a few minutes before we started

[1:40:28] sent you some information Sam Styver had sent me. Um it is possible to do a

[1:40:36] borrowing to cover our uh unfunded pension liabilities. It does require a

[1:40:42] special act of um the legislature and a certain amount of

[1:40:48] supervision. And the other sort of really interesting thing is the debt

[1:40:52] that's issued for this purpose uh is not taxexempt. Oh,

[1:40:59] » so it does it the the I I would recommend reading the

[1:41:03] document. It's actually quite good. Um it it it does say that there is still an

[1:41:08] arbitrage opportunity but it's um and it it it also provides a

[1:41:15] cautionary tale which I I mean I said I I thought it was very instructive but I

[1:41:19] think it's worth a serious consideration because I think that's an alternative to

[1:41:25] you know a two and a half exclusion maybe not forever but for some period of

[1:41:30] time since it would free up um levy capacity.

[1:41:38] All right, I'm pinning this down in terms of our thoughts. I'm going to add

[1:41:41] I'm going to create a document I believe for us um going into the meeting

[1:41:46] » for next week. >> Dr. Brian just asking what that number

[1:41:51] is and what it looks like and I haven't re I haven't heard back from him yet.

[1:41:55] » I I saw that. Thank you for that. >> Everybody see that email?

[1:42:04] All right. Any other items to add to our thoughts that we want to capture for the

[1:42:09] meeting on the 11th? >> We can add them uh later as well. But

[1:42:16] I mean, I think that's a pretty good start because this is going to be the

[1:42:18] preliminary meeting, preliminary discussion. Um we spent time talking

[1:42:23] about it over two meetings. I think particularly revising the policy

[1:42:27] tonight was helpful uh in terms of the draft and the thoughts on the number

[1:42:32] six.

[1:42:36] Anyone have any other thoughts, comments?

[1:42:42] All right, one more to come next week. I would like to get if you guys could just

[1:42:46] let me know who's going to attend in person or who's going to attend in Zoom.

[1:42:50] Um you don't have to do it now, but just uh just some ideas. I but I I would like

[1:42:55] to make sure we have a at least a group of us there in person. I will plan to go

[1:43:00] in person. >> Yeah, I plan to go in person.

[1:43:02] » Yeah, I'll try to go in person also. >> Okay.

[1:43:05] » All right. All right. So, I think Howard said he's coming in person, too. Um so,

[1:43:11] we'll we'll see everyone there, but there will be a Zoom remote option if uh

[1:43:15] that's not possible. All right. Uh any other comments on this

[1:43:22] tonight?

[1:43:27] Thank you for the u thoughts and work on that. Uh number five on our agenda

[1:43:32] tonight is to uh consider add a liaison to the

[1:43:37] elementary school uh building committee. [snorts]

[1:43:41] Um I did put that on the agenda at the request of uh some of our thoughts last

[1:43:47] week about things we needed to look at. Um I did make sure I fully understood. I

[1:43:53] went back um Andrew FAF as a member of advisory was not um we've had

[1:44:00] representatives from advisory on the various committees uh for the Ner

[1:44:04] School. Um, but he actually applied uh through this select board interview

[1:44:10] process to be I I guess you would call it a member at large or a member uh and

[1:44:16] was interviewed by I think the school committee and select board uh for that

[1:44:21] and then his the vote here was simply um us granting permission for an advisory

[1:44:26] member to be on an ad hoc committee. So we didn't send him to that committee but

[1:44:31] he was partic or he he will remain I guess on that committee for now. So just

[1:44:35] to clarify that we're not replacing Andrew there. We are simply trying to

[1:44:40] set up a liaison who will track uh the progress um and sort of review the

[1:44:47] financials etc and keep this board committee up to speed uh with with that

[1:44:53] information. Um I want to you know clarify Al is that that was your intent

[1:44:58] in raising this I believe. Yeah. And I don't know what the current practice is

[1:45:03] for uh you know the

[1:45:07] for for liaison whether you the committee is currently doing it or not.

[1:45:12] But um I I think we need to stay on top of this and probably

[1:45:19] um maybe chime in from time to time if we think

[1:45:23] » you know the direction is is is teetering in one

[1:45:29] one one way or another that we're unhappy with or concerned about

[1:45:35] » for sure and have you know meetings we could invite the representatives from

[1:45:39] that committee to our meeting etc. So, somebody monitoring, keeping an eye on

[1:45:43] it, chiming in would be helpful. Um, does anyone have any uh interest or who

[1:45:50] would like to maybe be the liaison to this committee?

[1:45:58] » I have an opinion of I'm happy to share it.

[1:46:01] » Sure. I mean, Al, and I'm not trying to create work for you, but I thank like I

[1:46:05] was involved with the first round getting to the options, which was very

[1:46:09] informative, and it came out of my my desire to be close to that given my my

[1:46:14] own views. But I think the more recent discussions on keeping the committee

[1:46:19] honest, if you want to call it that, or in in ensuring that they're being

[1:46:23] inclusive of the options that were agreed through the warrant at approved

[1:46:28] at town meeting, if you're willing to do that, I think your continued voice, I

[1:46:33] think, will be as strong as anyone's to ensure that the town's interests are

[1:46:38] being met, right? to have options that are true options versus trying to and

[1:46:44] I'm not suggesting anybody do anything nefarious, but if you're willing to do

[1:46:47] it, um otherwise, you know, I be if it's just a matter of attending meetings and

[1:46:52] listening in, I'd be happy to raise my hand, but I would put Al um ahead of me

[1:46:56] because again, I think his voice is going to be crisper than mine just

[1:47:01] because I have that that prior experience. But Al, I'd welcome to hear

[1:47:04] your thoughts if that's something you'd be willing to do.

[1:47:08] Um,

[1:47:14] » I'm willing, but I'm not sure I'm the best person.

[1:47:17] » Only because uh I have a pretty clear view, but um we can't really send two

[1:47:24] people, can we?

[1:47:30] » Anyone have any thoughts? I don't know why we couldn't have two liaison. I

[1:47:34] mean, it may make sense to have one so that we're not spread too thin, maybe

[1:47:39] focused effort. >> Yeah, I I would do it, but um you know,

[1:47:45] I would actually have suggested Derrick was the right right person only because

[1:47:50] » I'm I'm sort of Johnny one note and I have

[1:47:58] » Eric, would you be willing would you be willing to

[1:48:01] » Yeah. Again, the time commitment is just it's going to be very different. So, in

[1:48:04] that sense, yes, I'd be willing to do it because I think it'll just be a

[1:48:07] different experience. But, no point out point taken, but like I I respected your

[1:48:12] position to ensure that the option would be it would be included as an option

[1:48:17] regardless of whatever the town votes. The whole point is to give people the

[1:48:20] option to make a choice versus just having one thing rammed down their

[1:48:24] throat again, which I don't think is going to happen because we all learned

[1:48:27] our lesson and [clears throat] I know Andrew is is in I think close to that

[1:48:30] thinking as well. So yeah, I'd be I'm happy to do it. If if that's the extent

[1:48:34] of it is really just reporting back, then I'm fine doing it.

[1:48:37] » Well, I also think maybe every other month just asking for

[1:48:43] somebody to come and give us a briefing. >> That might be an opportunity to read

[1:48:50] messages. >> Yes, I think that's a great idea.

[1:48:55] » I I've been critical of the select board for not doing that with committees.

[1:48:59] Okay. Do we want to pursue both or that in lie

[1:49:04] of a liaison? >> Both.

[1:49:07] » Both. >> This is a this is a major

[1:49:11] » chunk of debt. >> Yeah.

[1:49:14] » Just just bear in mind that if if the select board agrees with the policies

[1:49:18] that we've we've talked about tonight, right, then our work on the budget's

[1:49:23] going up a lot. >> Yeah.

[1:49:26] » Yeah. So, you know, don't burn yourselves out is what I'm saying.

[1:49:31] » Yeah. Which is my point, Tim, is really if it's just a matter of attending the

[1:49:34] meetings, then then I'm fine with that. And, you know, I followed it a little

[1:49:38] bit more closely, just paying, you know, watching the stuff on Zoom. But that's

[1:49:42] the extent of it. If it were more than that, I would agree with you. I would uh

[1:49:45] I'd probably just do it as have them show up every other month or something

[1:49:49] like that. But I'm I'm fine for now. I'll raise my

[1:49:53] hand if it ends up being too much. >> Okay. So, we could start with that and

[1:49:59] um Eric can sort of monitor the progress,

[1:50:03] ask questions as needed and we'll have an opportunity we'll we'll we'll book

[1:50:08] the we'll speak with the chair of the committee and have a rep um brief us

[1:50:13] every at regular intervals. I'm going to say

[1:50:17] um

[1:50:23] so we have a motion to uh appoint >> Eric as our liaison.

[1:50:28] » I move that we appoint Eric Glitter as our um

[1:50:34] our liaison with the Ner building committee.

[1:50:38] » Second. >> All right. All those in favor? Tim

[1:50:43] » I. L >> Hi,

[1:50:49] » Eric. >> Hi,

[1:50:51] » Larry. >> Hi,

[1:50:53] » Barry. >> Hi,

[1:50:55] » Marcy. Is I >> the Marcy is a process matter formality.

[1:51:01] Will they get informed and then I'll get the invite list or the mechanics of

[1:51:04] that? How does it actually work? >> Um, we well to Al's point like we don't

[1:51:10] we haven't done this as much as or often as probably we should. We do it around

[1:51:13] the budget season. Usually we have a liaison. So I'm happy to draft an email

[1:51:20] uh with you on it to the committee just saying

[1:51:25] » it's [clears throat] here's what we're asking.

[1:51:26] » Yeah. >> At the meetings or if I get the however

[1:51:30] whatever is easiest but just more curious.

[1:51:34] » Sure. >> All right.

[1:51:35] » I'll I'll follow up with you offline. >> Thank you.

[1:51:38] » All right. Um meeting schedule. We have a meeting for

[1:51:43] next week with the select board. Um so everyone I think everyone knows that. Um

[1:51:52] beyond that we don't have any dates set up yet. Um

[1:51:58] I would be in favor of talking next week when we're at the

[1:52:03] meeting in person and coming up with more dates for our calendar if that

[1:52:06] works. >> Sure. we'll have a better idea, I think,

[1:52:12] of, you know, where are we heading next? What we what do we need to work on? Um,

[1:52:21] any other thoughts on that or preferences?

[1:52:24] » That works. Yeah. >> Okay. We will we will take care of that.

[1:52:28] But 8:11, I'm assuming at the regular time, 6:30,

[1:52:32] we'll look and see where we're at on the agenda with the joint discussion. I know

[1:52:37] it's a very packed meeting uh according to um some feedback I've heard. All

[1:52:43] right. Uh number seven on the agenda tonight is other businesses um other

[1:52:49] business brought forth to the committee. I do have one item here to share

[1:52:57] uh for awareness. Uh we don't have it on the agenda so we

[1:53:01] won't talk about it but just an announcement. Uh the ZBA is holding a

[1:53:04] meeting next week, August the 12th, public hearing, uh to talk about um

[1:53:11] making making it easier for discretionary permits uh for two

[1:53:15] families in most zoning districts. So, this is definitely something that um if

[1:53:21] this is headed to, you know, potential warrant at town meeting, uh we should

[1:53:26] definitely start getting informed now. So that is a

[1:53:31] hybrid meeting both at the townhouse and on Zoom. So um probably not

[1:53:40] we have to be careful not to have a quorum there but um it's a public forum

[1:53:43] so folks want to join if you can.

[1:53:49] All right just another reminder uh Saturday October 17th and March 20th is

[1:53:54] a tenative upcoming dates of town meetings. um just for your calendars.

[1:54:03] Any other business?

[1:54:07] » If not, moving on to public comment. Any public comment this evening?

[1:54:14] » You got anything to say? Sam, [laughter]

[1:54:17] » any hands up? Okay. One panel, one participant there. All right. Yes. Nice

[1:54:23] to see you, Sam. Um if no other uh comments for tonight,

[1:54:28] thank you everyone so much. Uh big help. A lot of work got done and um do we have

[1:54:33] a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved.

[1:54:36] » Second. >> Second. All right. Roll call vote. Tim

[1:54:40] » I >> Eric.

[1:54:43] » Hi. >> Larry.

[1:54:45] » Hi. >> Barry.

[1:54:47] » Hi. >> And Marcy is I. Thank you. I'll see you

[1:54:50] Tuesday. >> Thank you. Bye.

[1:54:52] » Bye. Night.

[1:54:55] » Good night.

Advisory Committee 8/5/26

Transcript