[0:02] All right. The the second thing the

[0:05] second thing that's going to happen is

[0:07] that because everyone doesn't have

[0:10] copies of the motions, the select board

[0:14] will read each of the motions.

[0:17] And typically we could uh refrain from

[0:20] that if everyone had a copy, but because

[0:22] we don't, we'll just and and that's a

[0:24] good thing.

[0:31] Okay.

[0:37] » Recording.

[0:53] » All right.

[0:56] So without ado,

[0:58] I'd like to call the 220 26

[1:02] Sunund annual tongue meeting to order.

[1:08] The first thing I'd like everyone to

[1:10] rise

[1:14] and we'll do the pledge of allegiance.

[1:18] Daniel.

[1:30] » I pledge allegiance to the flag of the

[1:34] United States of America and to the

[1:36] republic for which it stands. One nation

[1:40] under God, indivisible, with liberty and

[1:44] justice for all.

[1:46] Thank you all.

[1:48] At this time,

[1:51] there's in the town meeting, just so you

[1:53] know, there's just there's really just a

[1:54] couple people that are absolutely have

[1:57] to be here. And there out of those two

[1:59] people, there's one person that really

[2:01] needs to be here. And the per that

[2:03] person is a town clerk, and she's going

[2:05] to come up and read the uh council's

[2:08] return.

[2:19] All right, you guys ready for this?

[2:26] Pursuant to within warrant, I have

[2:29] notified and warned the inhabitants of

[2:31] the town of Sunderland by posting up

[2:33] attested copies of the same at the town

[2:36] office building, the Sunderland Public

[2:38] Library, and the Post Sunderland post

[2:41] office 7 days at least before the day

[2:44] here as within directive

[2:47] Laurenitis, April 16th, 2026 at 4 p.m.

[2:54] Before I leave, I have to be at the

[2:57] meeting, but I am not the one that puts

[3:00] all this together. These guys do. Um,

[3:10] and then one quick thing, we have had

[3:13] since 2018

[3:16] 19year-olds

[3:18] work the polls.

[3:20] And my very last one is now a voter. And

[3:25] I if everybody can give Beccavery

[3:28] Burgess a round of applause CUZ

[3:35] he's out back there. Um

[3:39] there there is a very low low number of

[3:41] kids that are interested in doing that.

[3:44] So hands off to him. Well done.

[3:53] Thank Thank you, Wendy.

[3:58] One of the the honors of being on the

[4:00] select board is every year that you're

[4:02] able to to review the members of your

[4:05] community and you're able to offer a

[4:08] dedication of our annual report.

[4:11] This year they have an outstanding

[4:14] individual and Nathaniel Waring will

[4:17] read that dedication. Dan

[4:24] » Hi, thanks. I'm Dan Murphy and uh happy

[4:26] to read this dedication tonight. Um each

[4:30] year we have the opportunity to

[4:31] recognize an individual or group who has

[4:33] contributed their expertise, talents or

[4:37] passion to the betterment of our

[4:38] community. Many groups or individuals

[4:41] have been recognized over the years

[4:42] having served our town in ways that make

[4:45] Sunderland great. This year, our annual

[4:47] report is dedicated to Fred Lauronitis.

[4:51] He's been he's a current water

[4:53] commissioner, former police officer,

[4:55] former EMT, captain, volunteer, fireman,

[4:59] constable, economic planning

[5:02] commissioner, and recreation department.

[5:04] And he's been a good neighbor to me,

[5:05] too. Um, we honor a leader whose life

[5:08] work is woven in the very fabric of our

[5:10] small town. From the high stakes front

[5:13] lines as a police officer, EMT, and

[5:16] captain of the volunteer fire department

[5:18] to the vital stewardship of our

[5:20] resources as water commissioner and the

[5:22] enrichment of our community on the

[5:24] recreation department, a town constable,

[5:26] economic planning commissioner, Fred has

[5:28] protected our safety, sustained our

[5:31] infrastructure, and championed our joy.

[5:34] It is rare to find an individual who has

[5:36] answered the call of service in so many

[5:38] different uniforms, yet performed each

[5:41] role with the same unwavering dedication

[5:44] to our neighbors, all with a smile on

[5:46] his face. I want to give a huge thank

[5:48] you to Fred Lauronitis.

[6:15] So, because Fred's not here, I'll tell

[6:17] one quick story. His his f his his

[6:20] family um back when I was a 10year-old

[6:24] raised cucumbers. Most of us youngsters

[6:27] at that time back in the early mid60s

[6:30] would work on the cucumber picker.

[6:35] I can tell you that Robert and Fred, if

[6:39] you missed a cucumber, you would learn

[6:41] about it with a cucumber in the back of

[6:43] the head.

[6:46] So, so Fred Fred's been training

[6:49] all of us for a very long time. and and

[6:52] all of you if you haven't who don't know

[6:54] who Fred is, if you see the Sunderland

[6:57] Town Water Department at all hours

[7:01] Monday through Sunday, that's Fred. And

[7:05] Sunund Water two years in a row has had

[7:08] the finest water in the state. So, thank

[7:11] you, FRED.

[7:18] OKAY. The other the other and it's a

[7:21] long tradition in the town is we have a

[7:23] spirit of Sunderland and this year

[7:26] Nathaniel Waring is to about to make

[7:29] that presentation.

[7:31] Thank you very much.

[7:33] We want to take a moment to publicly

[7:35] thank the members of our fire

[7:36] department. We often only see the

[7:38] flashing lights in an emergency, but

[7:40] your service begins long before the

[7:42] alarm sounds. Thank you for your

[7:45] bravery, for being the ones who run

[7:47] towards danger when others run away.

[7:49] Thank you for your training, for your

[7:51] countless hours spent away from your

[7:53] families to master the skills that save

[7:55] lives and protect our homes. And most

[7:59] importantly, thank you for your

[8:00] sacrifice. We recognize that you miss

[8:02] birthdays, holidays, and quiet nights

[8:05] away from home to endure to ensure ours

[8:08] are safe. You are the heartbeat of this

[8:10] community, and we are eternally

[8:12] grateful.

[8:19] If any of our firefighters are here

[8:21] today, if you would stand up.

[8:24] Would you spot for a second?

[8:40] Many many years ago, the town started

[8:42] recognizing the members of our community

[8:45] that who have participated.

[8:48] And I remember many times the moderator

[8:52] at the time, Bob Doobie, would struggle

[8:54] with this because he knew those people

[8:58] very well. and I'm kind of in I know why

[9:01] he struggles now.

[9:04] So,

[9:06] right now I'd like to do we've had four

[9:08] members of our community that passed

[9:11] that were very active.

[9:14] The first was Cindy Benjamin. Cindy was

[9:19] part of the town history volume 3,

[9:21] school committee, historical commission,

[9:23] treasurer, permanent building committee,

[9:26] Sunderland 275th anniversary committee,

[9:28] the Sunund 300th anniversary committee

[9:30] that is the vice chair. In addition,

[9:33] spent Cindy spent many years

[9:34] volunteering for the town that she loves

[9:37] so much. Cindy Hart was huge and helped

[9:41] many people in the town of Sundon. Cindy

[9:45] Benjamin

[9:51] The second

[9:53] who would pass is Frederick Miller.

[9:58] Fred was a served on the Sun volunteer

[10:01] firefighter on the fire department from

[10:04] 1988

[10:05] to 2000.

[10:10] Mary Warner.

[10:13] Mary served on the Sunderland School

[10:14] Committee.

[10:16] the Frontier School Committee,

[10:19] the French King Regional Vocational

[10:20] School Committee,

[10:22] the Finance Committee,

[10:25] and also the Town Park Committee.

[10:28] And Mary also was the holder, passholder

[10:31] of Sunderland's Boston

[10:34] Golden King, Mary Warner.

[10:40] And our last one, gentleman by the name

[10:43] of Rick Robleski.

[10:46] Rick was a town park trustees

[10:49] for a while. He ran a barbecue place

[10:52] outside of the 7 O's and Rick could make

[10:55] one heck of a brisket sandwich. Rick

[10:58] Roblesi.

[11:06] The town clerk said I needed to

[11:08] introduce myself. It's on the paper. I'm

[11:11] Tom Fightening Kevitz

[11:14] and

[11:15] At this time, Nathaniel has a town. We

[11:19] voted the town had voted last year and

[11:22] Nathaniel's getting well and Nathaniel

[11:25] Waring will read that

[11:29] in recognition that the land in

[11:30] Sunderland is the ancestral homeland and

[11:33] territory of the Pumpk Niptuk and

[11:36] Abanaki and was seated in 1672 under

[11:39] questionable circumstances. It is with

[11:41] deep regret that we acknowledge the

[11:43] history of colonialism that led to the

[11:45] dispossession of the original

[11:46] inhabitants from their lands through

[11:48] expansionism and exclusion. We

[11:50] acknowledge the continual presence,

[11:52] resilience, and perseverance of the

[11:54] Nipnuk, Pamkak, and Abenaki peoples. We

[11:58] offer our respect to their elders, both

[12:00] past and present, for the wisdom of

[12:02] their cultures. We also acknowledge and

[12:04] honor with gratitude their

[12:05] multigenerational stewardship of the

[12:07] land along the connectqu

[12:10] today known as the Connecticut River as

[12:12] well as our commitment to balance and

[12:14] reciprocity with all creations. To those

[12:17] living peoples and to the Wampa Noag to

[12:19] the east, the Moheaggan and Pikpikquat

[12:21] to the south, the Moheaggan to the west

[12:23] and the Abnaki to the north, we extend

[12:26] our respect and commit to learning more

[12:28] about their enduring relationship with

[12:29] the land on which we live and to taking

[12:32] meaningful action to support of Native

[12:34] nations and communities. We understand

[12:36] that this acknowledgement is not enough.

[12:38] It is just a beginning. Thank you.

[12:42] We also have a a second reading

[12:46] and crystal Drake trembling will

[12:49] >> okay resolution in favor of a nuclear

[12:52] weapon freeze. Whereas the world is

[12:55] currently in a perilous position with

[12:57] regard to war and nuclear weapon use.

[13:00] Whereas a nuclear war would be the end

[13:02] of life on this planet as we know it.

[13:05] Whereas if humanly existence was a

[13:09] 24-hour clock where midnight represented

[13:12] the apocalypse,

[13:14] then as of January 2025, the world was

[13:18] at 89 seconds to midnight. According to

[13:21] the bulletin of the atomic scientist

[13:24] whose science and security board member

[13:27] Manprit Seth declared

[13:31] that a slew of risks of arms racing a

[13:34] loss of guard rails possibly a further

[13:37] proliferation possibly of nuclear use

[13:40] are all rising at the same time. Whereas

[13:44] no one person should be in a position to

[13:46] exterminate us by the push of a button

[13:49] in nuclear testing has been recently

[13:52] resumed.

[13:53] Whereas we are but one town in one state

[13:56] in one nation but we are world citizens

[14:00] in regional statements make a difference

[14:02] in state, national and international

[14:05] decisionmaking.

[14:07] Letting leaders know how the populace

[14:10] feels in voting in a statement such as

[14:13] this energizes citizens to be more

[14:16] involved as the subject comes up in the

[14:18] news. Whereas

[14:22] on August 8th and August 9th of 1945,

[14:26] hundreds of thousands of human beings

[14:28] died, many instantly or suffered severe

[14:32] health consequences in the cities of

[14:34] Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, when the

[14:37] United States dropped atomic bombs.

[14:40] Whereas countless peoples and

[14:42] communities in the United States have

[14:44] been and continue to be grievously

[14:47] harmed and suffer health consequences

[14:49] from the development, production and

[14:52] testing of nuclear weapons in uranium

[14:54] mining, much of which takes place around

[14:58] centers of current indigenous

[15:00] settlements. Whereas of January 2025,

[15:05] nine nations collectively in

[15:07] approximately

[15:09] 12,100

[15:10] nuclear weapons in their arsenals, most

[15:13] of which are far more destructive than

[15:16] those used against the people of Japan.

[15:18] And the detonation of even a small

[15:21] number of these weapons would affect

[15:23] every being on the planet, causing

[15:26] catastrophic human and environmental

[15:28] consequences

[15:30] that would threaten human life itself.

[15:33] Whereas there have historically been

[15:36] bills in mass legislature calling for a

[15:38] nuclear weapons freeze and encouraging

[15:41] citizens hearing throughout the state

[15:44] regarding replacing nuclear weapons

[15:47] spending with funds for substantial

[15:50] substainable energy to address the

[15:52] climate crisis. Be it resolved that the

[15:55] people of Sunderland, Massachusetts join

[15:58] with the people of the world in their

[16:00] urgent call for a nuclear weapons freeze

[16:02] from this day forth.

[16:05] That was a mouthful.

[16:07] >> Thank you, Crystal. Thank you, Crystal.

[16:12] So when Wendy had earlier talked about

[16:14] who puts everything together and the the budget is a large portion of it, but

[16:22] also the the additional articles that

[16:26] we're going to be voting on tonight. I'd

[16:28] like to introduce I'd like to introduce

[16:29] the select board, Nathaniel Waring,

[16:33] Crystal Drake Trombli, Daniel Murphy,

[16:38] and the town administrator, Rebecca

[16:40] Torres.

[16:42] The town clerk is Wendy Hoo.

[16:46] And I'm pretty uh proud to talk that the

[16:49] finance committee in Mass is here

[16:52] tonight. And I'd like Valerie to step forward and she can introduce

[16:57] herself and the committee.

[17:05] » Hi, I'm Valerie Vorhees, 140 North Main

[17:08] um in Sunderland. Um I'm the chair of

[17:10] the finance committee. Um I would like

[17:13] um our wonderful community-minded,

[17:16] hardworking,

[17:18] meetinggoing finance committee to

[17:20] introduce themselves to you.

[17:24] Hi, I'm uh Dylan Corporita. I live here

[17:26] on 51 South Main Street.

[17:28] >> Hi, I'm Alli Dean. I live at 153 Hadley

[17:31] Road.

[17:33] >> Hi, Joe Wise. 123 North Plane Road.

[17:37] >> Hi, Aaron Coupe, 84 Old Ammerst Road.

[17:42] >> Indian Raphael, 208 Russell Street.

[17:53] So

[17:55] believe it or not, we actually have a

[17:58] book that that we run our meeting by.

[18:01] It's called Town Meeting Time. If you go

[18:05] if you want to become a moderator,

[18:07] select board or or become knowledgeable

[18:10] how the town meeting is supposed to run,

[18:13] you can go to the Sunown Library and

[18:15] request a copy. And if they don't have

[18:17] the copy, they can get get you one. But

[18:20] everything that we do tonight is based

[18:22] out of this book, town meeting time.

[18:27] But if there are qu legal questions, we

[18:30] do have we do have town council that's

[18:33] sitting in the back and Michael will be

[18:35] able to help us if we need

[18:36] clarification.

[18:40] We we also have and I'd like them to

[18:43] stand a few outside groups uh that are

[18:46] very important to our community. The

[18:48] first is the frontier administration.

[18:51] if you could rise and introduce

[18:52] yourself.

[19:02] » Franklin Tech,

[19:14] » Sundown Elementary School.

[19:25] Okay, we got most of the introductions

[19:28] down. Um, once again, does everybody

[19:32] have a red, a yellow, and a green card.

[19:37] If you don't have the card, you need to

[19:39] raise your hand and your neighbor

[19:43] will we don't have any additional ones.

[19:46] So, one of your neighbors could rip the

[19:47] card and hand it to you, one of the

[19:49] cards. Okay,

[19:56] we will we will be we will be using the

[19:58] cards to vote. Yes is green, no is red.

[20:02] If you have a question, the yellow. And

[20:05] what we're doing tonight is if you have

[20:07] a question or if you want to speak, we'd

[20:10] like you to go quay on the center

[20:13] microphone. So there's no question about

[20:16] who's calling on who or what order there

[20:18] is. We'll just stand up and get it get

[20:20] in line. The one thing if someone calls

[20:26] a question which usually is kind of

[20:28] non-debatable just to let you know the

[20:31] but moderator's discretion if you are in

[20:33] line and waiting to talk we will hear

[20:36] you. Okay.

[20:39] Um the packet does

[20:43] uh conclude the motions and information

[20:44] on certain agendas. When we do the

[20:47] budget and we'll go through each C

[20:49] category raider voters can raise a

[20:52] yellow card to hold the budget line and

[20:55] if they wish to revisit for more

[20:57] additional discussion

[21:00] concern concerning

[21:06] the rules for town government or the

[21:08] town meeting it were governed by town

[21:10] meeting time. I will explain if someone

[21:12] has a question about procedures

[21:14] as needed. I can explain and will

[21:16] recognize legitimate requests, for points of order.

[21:21] Motions will generally be made by the

[21:23] select board. The articles in the

[21:26] warrant guide are discussions, but it is

[21:29] motions that we will debate. Sometimes a

[21:32] motion will be to adopt the action

[21:34] contemplated. I will ask you to stop if

[21:38] you

[21:40] and Okay. So, those are the motions.

[21:46] >> They can't carry you in the back.

[21:48] >> What's that?

[21:48] >> They can't carry you in the back.

[21:50] >> Oh, that's good.

[21:52] Um, but the article may be sometimes it

[21:55] will be a little different. Any debate

[21:57] and any subsidary motions must be within

[21:59] the scope of the article that it must

[22:01] have a reasonable relationship to the

[22:03] matter being discussed. If it does not,

[22:06] then I may ask you to stop or may

[22:08] redirect you. motions and motions to

[22:11] amend generally must be in writing to

[22:13] the town clerk for mineral and clerical

[22:16] corrections. I will accept friendly

[22:19] amendments and we will help with the

[22:21] procedure. We will be going in numerical

[22:24] order. You may speak only when

[22:27] recognized by the moderator. If you want

[22:29] to speak, come to the microphone. If you

[22:32] are unable to do so, raise your hand and

[22:34] we will get a microphone to you. I will

[22:37] try to balance discussion as well as I

[22:39] can. Everyone has a chance to speak on a

[22:42] matter but at a certain point I want to

[22:44] avoid repetition.

[22:48] Maximum of 5 minutes on the first time

[22:51] to the mic, 3 minutes on the second

[22:53] time, and usually it would have to

[22:56] really be something to get you to the

[22:58] mic the third time.

[23:00] I may allow someone with new information

[23:02] to speak a third time, but I may limit a

[23:04] speaker to only two times. I hope we can

[23:07] continue have a spirited debate and that

[23:10] this meeting both supports and

[23:12] challenges the issues that are

[23:15] presented. However, no personal comments

[23:18] and all comments must be civil and

[23:21] respectful.

[23:27] town meeting wants to hear your opinions

[23:30] and it may not allow you to state what

[23:33] someone else thinks or says. It's your

[23:37] opinion. If comments stray beyond the

[23:40] limits I have noted or if there is a dis

[23:44] disruption, I will ask you to stop. If

[23:47] you do not stop, you'll be asked to

[23:49] leave.

[23:51] We have many local officials and between

[23:54] the local officials and myself, we will

[23:56] try to get any questions answered. For

[23:59] those of in the visitor section, you

[24:01] have no right to speak unless I

[24:03] recognize you to speak. If anyone wants

[24:06] to film the meeting, they must let the

[24:09] let me know and I will approve the means

[24:12] and location of the filming. I will ask

[24:15] for a voice vote on motions. No

[24:17] shouting. If I cannot discern the

[24:19] results, I may ask for a show of hands

[24:22] with the cards.

[24:24] I do respect a call of a question or a

[24:27] motion to cut off debate, provided that

[24:29] anyone lined up at the mic at the time

[24:31] may be allowed to speak and provide that

[24:33] I will reject it if I think it is

[24:36] premature. Similarly, if I am hearing a

[24:39] lot of the same comments, I may

[24:40] abbreviate debate on my own. There are a

[24:44] variety of handouts available that may

[24:46] help along the handouts

[24:48] the annual budget. The detailed handout

[24:51] may be helpful when we vote on the

[24:53] budget. Before we get started, I want to

[24:55] give the select board members

[24:57] chair an opportunity if you'd like to

[25:00] make any comments.

[25:02] I'd like to thank everybody for being

[25:04] here. It makes me very happy to see how

[25:06] much engagement we have with this

[25:07] process. Um I know this is going to be a

[25:10] long process. uh please you know bear

[25:13] with us as we go through it. Um if you

[25:14] have questions we encourage you to um

[25:16] bring them up. This has been a very hard

[25:18] budget year for all of us. Um for those

[25:19] of you who've been paying attention uh

[25:21] to the process you know that um and

[25:23] obviously we have a lot to talk about

[25:24] today. So thank you very much for being

[25:26] here.

[25:28] And and finally I'd like to um thank

[25:30] John Bosshan, director of the FCAT and

[25:32] his staff for recording tonight's

[25:34] meeting. Dogwood Audio has been hired to

[25:37] provide the sound systems.

[25:40] And with that, I think we're ready to

[25:43] roll.

[25:44] Article one. All right. Article one.

[25:48] Move that the town vote to hear the

[25:50] reports of the select board, the

[25:52] Sunderland School Committee, and all

[25:53] other town officers, boards, committees,

[25:56] and commissions.

[25:58] >> I motion we move article one.

[26:01] >> Second. So, we have a motion made and

[26:04] seconded. All of those reports are in

[26:08] this book. And if you don't have a copy,

[26:11] there are copies at the select board's

[26:12] office or in town hall and or you can

[26:15] find it online.

[26:17] And by the way, there's a lot of

[26:19] information in this book.

[26:22] Article one.

[26:24] Get the get those cards ready. All in

[26:26] favor of article one, please hold up

[26:28] your green cards.

[26:30] Those

[26:33] opposed the red cards

[26:36] declare it unanimous.

[26:39] All set.

[26:43] » Article two.

[26:44] Move that the town vote

[26:47] under provision general law chapter

[26:49] 41108

[26:51] to set the salaries and compensation of

[26:54] all its elected officials connected

[26:56] herewith for fiscal year 2027.

[27:00] Should I read all the salaries since

[27:02] they don't have copies? No.

[27:03] >> Yes.

[27:04] >> Yeah, you pull that.

[27:05] >> Okay. Assessors chair $3,70

[27:09] annually. Clerk $3,70

[27:13] annually. member $3,070

[27:17] annually.

[27:19] Board of Health Chair $1,537.50

[27:25] annually. Members, $1,230

[27:29] annually.

[27:32] Moderator, $25

[27:35] annually.

[27:36] Planning board chair, $1,25

[27:40] annually. Clerk $1,025 annually. Members

[27:45] each $563.75

[27:49] annually. Town clerk $64,54

[27:55] annually. Select board chair $3,357

[28:00] annually. Vice chair $2,92125

[28:07] annually. and clerk $2,92125

[28:13] annually.

[28:16] >> I motion we move article two

[28:19] >> second.

[28:25] » Sorry about that. I will second that.

[28:29] >> So we have a motion made and seconded

[28:31] for the salaries of the elected

[28:34] officials in the town of Sunderland.

[28:37] All those in favor.

[28:43] » All those opposed.

[28:47] » Declare it

[28:50] unanimous.

[28:54] Article three.

[28:56] Move that the town vote to fund the

[28:58] operating budgets of the town and public

[29:01] schools for the fiscal year beginning

[29:03] July 1, 2026 by appropriating the sum of

[29:06] 11,930,312.

[29:10] All as set forth in the column entitled

[29:13] fiscal year 27 override budget annual

[29:16] town meeting in the document entitled

[29:19] town of Sunderland fiscal year 27 town

[29:21] meeting budget as on file with the town

[29:24] clerk and to meet said appropriation to

[29:27] raise the sum of 11,253,682

[29:32] and transfer from one fund Comcast PEG

[29:36] access fund the sum of 53,000 to fund

[29:39] 610 10 WWTP sewer fund the sum of

[29:43] $477,726

[29:47] and three certified free cash the sum of

[29:50] $145,94.

[29:53] Provided, however, that approval of the

[29:57] column fiscal year 2027 override budget

[30:01] annual town meeting shall be expressly

[30:03] contingent upon approval by the voters

[30:06] at an election of a Proposition 2 and a

[30:08] half override, allowing the town to

[30:11] raise the funds appropriated here

[30:13] outside the limits established by

[30:15] Proposition 2 and a half, general law,

[30:18] chapter 59, section 21C, and further

[30:21] provided that should said Proposition 2

[30:23] and half override question fail the sum

[30:25] of 11,273,299

[30:30] all as described in the column entitled

[30:33] fiscal year 27 base budget annual town

[30:35] meeting in the document entitled town of

[30:39] Sunderland fiscal year 27 town meeting

[30:42] budget as on file with the town clerk

[30:45] shall instead be appropriated with said

[30:47] appropriation met by raising the sum of

[30:50] 10,453,600

[30:52] $182

[30:54] and transferring from one fund Comcast

[30:57] PEG access fund the sum of $53,000

[31:01] to fund 610 WWTP sewer fund the sum of

[31:05] 477,726

[31:09] three stabilization fund the sum of

[31:11] $100,000 and four certified free cash

[31:15] the sum of $188,891

[31:19] or take any vote

[31:22] Oh, okay. That's it. All right. Period.

[31:27] Thank you.

[31:28] >> Um, should I say 2/3?

[31:31] >> Yes.

[31:31] >> 2/3 vote. General law chapter 40,

[31:34] section 5B, transfer from the general

[31:36] purpose stabilization fund.

[31:40] >> I second that. Okay. We have a motion

[31:42] made on the uh article for this year's

[31:45] town budget. Please note that it's going

[31:47] to require a twothirds vote because

[31:49] there's money coming out of the

[31:52] stabilization account. Because of coming

[31:54] out of stabilization, you needed a

[31:56] twothirds vote on the budget. At this

[31:58] time, the finance committee m chair

[32:00] would like to make a an opening

[32:02] statement.

[32:05] >> Hi. Um the center finance committee

[32:08] along with the select board here in

[32:10] Sunderland began our budget process um

[32:13] last year following the usual approach.

[32:15] uh we crested level service budgets and

[32:18] enhanced budgets from each town

[32:19] department. We had every other week

[32:22] meetings with the town departments. They

[32:24] shared their budget with us. There's a

[32:26] lot there was a lot of consultation. A

[32:29] few months into the process once we

[32:31] received figures from the schools. It

[32:33] became clear that we were facing

[32:34] significant fiscal challenges that

[32:37] required a more rigorous review.

[32:41] In response, we ask all departments to

[32:43] prepare reduced budget scenarios

[32:46] at a 5% and 20% below current year

[32:50] funding levels. Um, we then worked

[32:53] closely with department heads and other

[32:56] stakeholders to evaluate these

[32:57] reductions line by line, applying

[33:01] judgment

[33:03] rather than across the board cuts. For

[33:05] example, the town clerk is responsible

[33:08] for three elections in the coming fiscal

[33:10] year compared to one this year. So a 20%

[33:14] reduction would not have been practical

[33:17] or responsible. There are lots of

[33:19] examples of this kind of attention that

[33:21] we have given to our town departments

[33:23] and our needs. This budget,

[33:26] the finance committee believes this

[33:28] budget is a result of a balanced,

[33:30] thoughtful budget is a is a is a result

[33:32] of a thoughtful balance budget process

[33:35] that maintains services at a level that

[33:37] our children, families, seniors, and

[33:40] residents can rely on while also

[33:42] protecting Centerland's long-term fiscal

[33:45] health.

[33:49] » Thank you.

[33:55] Valerie.

[33:58] So, a quick thing with the budget, we'll

[34:00] be going through there's major portions,

[34:05] for example, general government, town

[34:07] buildings, police department. We'll be

[34:10] going through each of those. If you want

[34:14] additional information on those, if you

[34:17] could hold the card, the yellow card up,

[34:20] I'll note it and we'll come back and

[34:22] we'll specifically talk about that

[34:27] portion of the budget.

[34:31] General government

[34:34] $730,429.

[34:38] Would anybody like a hold on that

[34:42] without seeing a yellow card? Town

[34:44] buildings

[34:46] $199,372.

[34:50] Would anybody like to discuss that?

[34:55] Police department $688,185.

[35:00] Would anybody like to talk about the

[35:02] police department?

[35:06] Fire Department

[35:08] $131,470

[35:16] EMS

[35:17] $315,527

[35:25] Inspector and Other Protection

[35:28] $70,125

[35:34] Highway department

[35:37] and and I would just want to have an

[35:39] opportunity for George. Thank you for

[35:42] this past winter. It was not an easy

[35:44] winter. You guys did a remarkable job.

[35:46] Thank you.

[35:53] Their budget is $42,000

[35:56] $90.

[36:04] We'll come back. We'll come back to

[36:06] that. Total highway.

[36:09] Total health and sanitation

[36:12] $83,14.

[36:18] We got a hold on that. We'll come back.

[36:21] Total library

[36:23] $255,74.

[36:31] Total elementary school 3,951,324.

[36:42] Going to hold on.

[36:45] Franklin County technical

[36:48] assessment of $188,765.

[36:59] Frontier Assessment

[37:01] 2,82,995.

[37:14] Out of district tuition and

[37:16] transportation,

[37:18] $45,345.

[37:27] Total benefit and insurance

[37:30] 1,319,847.

[37:41] Total miscellaneous and reserve fund

[37:45] $268,940.

[37:53] Total miscellaneous and reserve fund for

[37:56] total operating budget is 11,452,589.

[38:04] And we need to also put in there the

[38:07] total wastewater

[38:10] treatment budget of $477,726.

[38:17] Anybody want to talk about sewer?

[38:20] Wow, you guys are pretty dull.

[38:23] So we have a total budget in the town of

[38:25] Sunderland 11,930,315.

[38:34] So we did have a couple hoes. So I'd

[38:36] like the person that held the question

[38:38] on the highway department to come up to

[38:40] the microphone and ask the question,

[38:42] please

[38:46] if it works. Aaron, sure.

[38:48] >> Seems to work. I noticed that the

[38:50] expense line for the highway department

[38:53] had a significant reduction and I would

[38:56] like to know what the impacts of that

[38:58] reduction might be on highway services.

[39:05] » We have George here today.

[39:08] » Thanks George.

[39:21] The reduction for the for the line item

[39:23] for that would probably

[39:26] line painting would probably be get cut

[39:28] for the year cuz that's gone up

[39:30] dramatically over the years uh in price.

[39:33] So some services will like line painting

[39:37] and other art tree trimming and stuff

[39:40] like that will get cut for we won't be

[39:43] able to do as much. Um

[39:48] things will take us a little longer

[39:53] repairs on catch basins and stuff like

[39:56] that. We get held over till next year

[39:58] until we can get the money back

[40:00] hopefully.

[40:03] » Thank you, George.

[40:09] » Are there any other additional questions

[40:10] for George?

[40:14] We had a hold on the total health and

[40:18] sanitation.

[40:20] Would the person uh that asked Hollis?

[40:23] >> Yes.

[40:24] >> Um I think you if I read this right need

[40:28] to explain 173%. That's my only question

[40:32] there.

[40:34] And I don't know if anyone held up for

[40:36] the library, but I'd like you to explain

[40:40] almost 50%

[40:42] for the Sun Library. So, go ahead and

[40:46] explain those two things.

[40:55] » All right. So the health and sanitation

[40:58] um there is PAS found at a residence and

[41:02] we're required to monitor and

[41:07] check that situation in PAS. Um it will

[41:10] require continuing monitoring for some

[41:13] time. So that's what the increase in

[41:15] that sanitation is.

[41:21] » It's one sole can you please speak in

[41:24] the microphone? So

[41:24] >> Yep. So

[41:26] >> just so we we do we we just want

[41:27] everyone to hear Hollis.

[41:28] >> So it is one home that it was found in

[41:31] but the testing has to encompass an area

[41:34] around that.

[41:36] >> Okay. Explain the library then.

[41:41] >> Uh in the event that the override fails

[41:44] then the library expense item will be

[41:46] reduced significantly. Um and I think

[41:49] that um so just to be clear as Val

[41:53] explained uh for all departments even uh

[41:56] non-override

[41:58] uh even if we pass the override we're

[42:00] still having some reductions.

[42:03] Um but if the override fails then yes

[42:05] we're losing quite a lot of uh funding

[42:08] in the expense line item and the kind of

[42:10] things that you will see uh at the

[42:13] library. We will not actually be uh meet

[42:16] the requirements for state

[42:17] certification. We will have to file a

[42:19] waiver. Uh we will uh that affects all

[42:24] the services the library gets. The CWMR

[42:26] is your interl loan. So hopefully we

[42:28] will get that waiver. Um but that will

[42:30] not be guaranteed. um and will become

[42:34] harder as the years goes on. Uh we will

[42:36] be reducing uh materials.

[42:39] Uh we will have to uh redirect uh privately donations to the materials

[42:47] line items. So you will see a reduction

[42:49] in programs like the concerts uh

[42:52] lectures, crafts, um some of the many of

[42:56] the things that you come have come to

[42:57] appreciate at the library uh technology

[43:01] etc. So I mean I think that that 476%

[43:04] reduction is the consequence of a failed

[43:08] override.

[43:17] » Okay. Is there any else any more

[43:19] comments?

[43:25] We had a uh

[43:27] >> what's that?

[43:29] >> Peter,

[43:35] » is it all right now to make a comment

[43:37] about the budget as a whole?

[43:41] » How about when we get to the final

[43:42] number?

[43:47] » Boy, a lot of power up here, huh, David?

[43:53] Elementary. Total Elementary. We had a

[43:55] card that was held up for Total

[43:57] Elementary.

[44:04] » Hi Darius.

[44:05] Um Judy Pierce. Um could you

[44:09] just talk about the level funding versus

[44:11] the override funding and the differences

[44:13] that will create in the elementary

[44:14] school for us? Uh we've had some pretty

[44:16] consistent years uh at high percentage

[44:19] increases for the elementary school. um

[44:24] just a high level of

[44:27] the potential for I'm guessing a lost

[44:29] art, language, music, uh staff, people,

[44:32] library services.

[44:34] So, have I pretty much nailed it?

[44:36] >> Yeah.

[44:39] Let me give an overview um of

[44:42] where the elementary budget is. So, we

[44:45] came in at Oh, I appreciate that.

[44:49] If I did that, it'll take about 10

[44:50] minutes. Um,

[44:53] our needs level came in at 18%. And I

[44:56] know folks are going to say like, how is

[44:57] it that high? How is a community this

[44:59] small have that size or raise? Um, and

[45:02] generally the needs of the students in

[45:04] Sunderland Elementary um, basically it

[45:08] comes down to that we have a high need

[45:10] student population and a high need

[45:12] student population identified by DESIE

[45:14] by the Department of Education is those

[45:15] who are dis economically disadvantaged

[45:17] students with disabilities and English

[45:19] language learners.

[45:21] your comm our community um has a large

[45:24] number of those and to put those numbers

[45:27] to to so you can understand how it folds

[45:30] out is that Sunderland's 53% high need

[45:33] students compared to 10 years ago you

[45:36] were 36% high need students as a

[45:40] comparison to your neighbors across the

[45:41] river Deerfield's at 38%. So you're

[45:44] around almost 20% higher in high needs.

[45:46] And because of these high needs, there

[45:48] are more programming, there's more IEPs

[45:51] and so forth. Um, and this year we've

[45:53] had an unprecedented number of newcomers

[45:55] to our town with high needs that we have

[45:58] to meet. And so when I talk about we

[46:01] have to meet by law for those who don't

[46:03] follow education when you a student has

[46:05] an IEP or um a 504 plan that we need to

[46:09] um follow. We have to meet those under the regulations. And if we

[46:14] have to cut elsewhere to meet those

[46:16] needs, we have to under the law. And so

[46:20] we have already reduced our budget to

[46:22] get to the 10%. And what we did is we

[46:25] already reduced the budget by three

[46:26] instructional assistants. We currently

[46:28] froze the budget this year allowing no

[46:31] um non-needed spending. So extras for

[46:34] classrooms were were put on hold. Um we

[46:36] used all the rural aid we could get even

[46:38] though there was a reduction from the

[46:39] state. So um keep pushing our

[46:41] legislators to get rural aid for us. Um

[46:44] we reduced two grade level teacher

[46:46] positions for next year by combining

[46:48] classrooms. So we're now we're going to

[46:49] have a classroom at 25 26. Um and we're

[46:53] taking we're rolling the dice with our

[46:54] kindergarten class that's around 20

[46:56] right now. In years past, we've gotten

[46:59] more than five students entering um

[47:02] kindergarten in a single year. And

[47:04] that's significant because the law

[47:05] requires us to have classes of

[47:06] kindergarten under 25 or else we have to

[47:09] split. So, we're kind of rolling dice.

[47:11] We're going to hope that it holds out.

[47:12] But this community, we have a lot of

[47:13] people that enroll late. Um we are also

[47:17] going to reduce physical education by

[47:18] one day. So, that got us down to 10%.

[47:21] Um, if we have to cut further,

[47:27] we would have to cut about $360,000,

[47:30] we would cut the school adjustment

[47:31] counselor, um, a math interventionist,

[47:35] um, another structuralist assistance,

[47:38] and then we would have to look at

[47:39] specials such as art, music in the

[47:41] librarian.

[47:42] It's just the reality. There's nowhere

[47:44] else to cut after that. Do we just get

[47:47] rid of fourth grade and send them home

[47:49] for the year? I sorry to bring levity to

[47:51] that but there really there we've

[47:52] already reduced things so far that would

[47:55] be bare bones and I want to talk about a

[47:58] reality what happens if you don't fund

[48:01] your school okay is there's something

[48:03] called school choice

[48:06] we have been beneficiaries of school

[48:07] choice in the four towns that I work

[48:10] with where we I call winners meaning we

[48:12] take in more money than we send out if

[48:15] we don't provide a quality education in

[48:18] the eyes of our citizens People

[48:21] will walk and they will go to other

[48:22] schools and they will take money with

[48:24] them. So we will write a check for every

[48:27] student decides that because we can't

[48:29] provide some of the standard things like

[48:32] art and music which I would call them

[48:34] standard expectations in an elementary

[48:36] school. They may go to Ammerst. They

[48:39] could go to one of the other, you know,

[48:41] within the union that doesn't help you.

[48:43] Um but they could, you know, go to

[48:44] Hatfield. they could go somewhere else

[48:46] that may have this and they we will then

[48:48] write a check to that school. So next

[48:50] year I'll be here saying well we had to

[48:52] pay out this many students and this

[48:54] happened 10 years ago or so when the

[48:57] override failed uh was it 10 or 11 years

[49:00] ago. I wasn't in this position at the

[49:02] time but we lost about a dozen or so

[49:05] students that went mostly to Amoris and

[49:07] they never came back after we were able

[49:09] to bring back the budget over the next

[49:11] couple years. Then they never came back

[49:12] to Frontier either. And so we paid out

[49:16] and paid out and many of them went to

[49:17] charter schools. The charter schools

[49:19] tuition around $20,000 per student going

[49:22] out. So we get no savings when those

[49:25] students leave. You can say, "Oh, well,

[49:26] if some students leave, wouldn't our

[49:28] budget go down?" No. Unless I'm going to

[49:30] not offer fourth grade. Um, and if a

[49:33] high need student leaves, a high need

[49:35] someone on an IEP that's receiving extra

[49:37] services, let's say like like speech or

[49:38] OT or something like that, they bill us

[49:40] for that as well. So, it gets to this

[49:43] slippery slope of we really need to and

[49:46] I'm, you know, giving you all this

[49:48] information so you can be informed

[49:49] voters and I hope you pass that on to

[49:50] other people that you really do need to

[49:52] fund the the base education of where

[49:55] we're at in this budget. Um, and and

[49:58] unfortunately, we've cut away and and

[50:01] combined and done all the things that we

[50:03] can um do at this point. So, that's kind

[50:06] of an overview of where we're at and I

[50:08] can certainly answer any questions in in within this budget or how things

[50:13] would move, that kind of thing. But

[50:14] hopefully that gives an overview. Um,

[50:17] thank you.

[50:18] >> Thank you, Superintendent Modesto.

[50:26] Are there any other questions on the

[50:27] elementary budget?

[50:36] I was wondering if you could clarify

[50:39] school choice because what it seems to

[50:42] be in the press,

[50:45] we get something in the order of $5,000

[50:49] for a student coming in.

[50:52] And yet it costs us somewhere's in the

[50:55] neighborhood of what 20 to $25,000 to

[50:58] educate that student. So what's the

[51:01] percentage of students that are school

[51:04] choice then versus students from the

[51:08] community?

[51:15] Excellent question.

[51:17] So, school choice uh you know started

[51:19] like in mid 90s um basically and they

[51:23] for any student that chooses to go to

[51:25] another community that community gets

[51:27] $5,000 per that student and any

[51:30] additional IEP or services that student

[51:33] receives. So, let me explain that. So if

[51:35] I was to come to Sunderland Elementary

[51:37] and I had an IEP that required speech

[51:40] services, I would then be build you

[51:42] would you would build a sending school

[51:44] cuz I came to Sunland Elementary $5,000

[51:46] plus the sped increment on top of that.

[51:49] can get very expensive because sped

[51:51] increments could go all the way up to

[51:53] having a one um which you know could be

[51:56] 30 to $40,000. Uh so that kind of thing.

[51:58] So it's not just $5,000 but overall it

[52:01] is $5,000. Um, so the idea is that let's

[52:06] say you have 15 students in your

[52:09] classroom. Well, we think in the the

[52:12] sweet spot for right now is, you know,

[52:14] we'll say fourth grade. 18 to 20 is

[52:16] probably the sweet spot for that

[52:17] classroom. Well, we could take three

[52:19] students of choice, get that $15,000

[52:22] plus any spent increments, and then be

[52:24] able to reduce the cost to the towns.

[52:28] Frontier is an extreme winner in school

[52:31] choice. extreme. Okay. Right now,

[52:34] Frontier has shut its doors to school

[52:36] choice in the in the middle school

[52:37] because it's filled. There's the amount

[52:38] of people that want to go there to the

[52:40] point where it's paying for all its

[52:42] capital projects the last few years, the uh the track, the roof, we're going

[52:47] to do the parking lot over. All those

[52:49] things have been paid for by school

[52:50] choice. The reason why we're using it to

[52:52] take care of capital funds is because

[52:54] they're non-reoccurring. So, you're not

[52:56] inflating your budget that's going up

[52:57] and down with students that are coming

[52:59] and going. So

[53:01] overall as a district, we've been doing

[53:03] very well at school choice. Um but the

[53:06] numbers overall have come down the last

[53:09] few years as the county is getting

[53:11] smaller um and people are are are

[53:14] choosing to leave less. The other thing

[53:17] on school choice is also charter

[53:19] schools. So charter schools, so if a if

[53:22] a child from Sunderland said, "Hey, you

[53:24] know what? I'd rather go to Chinese

[53:25] immersion school in Hadley." that cost

[53:27] the town $21,000.

[53:30] Okay? So, we have to bring in for every

[53:32] child we bring in from another town, we

[53:34] get $5 ahead. Charter schools get

[53:36] $20,000 ahead. That's just the way they

[53:38] do the formula. Um, so you have to

[53:41] understand, so if people decide to go

[53:43] elsewhere and they choose charter, it's

[53:45] four times as much. And you know, there

[53:48] is some reimbursement that you get back

[53:49] depending on what year they go and that

[53:51] kind of thing. But um overall it's an

[53:53] expensive u setup in education.

[54:00] » Thank you. Thank you.

[54:03] Are there any other questions on that

[54:06] the elementary school budget?

[54:10] Seeing no hands or anybody standing up

[54:12] in line,

[54:14] we go to the grand total

[54:17] >> and there was a reserve total

[54:20] miscellaneous and reserve raised hand

[54:22] saw that.

[54:23] >> Okay. Total miscellaneous and reserve

[54:25] fund.

[54:27] Somebody have a hold on that.

[54:32] » Hi. Um just a quick question. I when I

[54:36] attended one of the select board finance

[54:38] committee meetings where they discussed

[54:40] the senior center and it sounded like

[54:42] the goal was to move to a location in

[54:44] Sunderland further down on Amoris Road,

[54:47] but I saw a recent news article that

[54:49] sounded like Deerfield or some folks in

[54:52] Deerfield were still pushing for it to

[54:53] be in Deerfield. So, and I had thought

[54:56] the matter was settled. So, I just

[54:57] wondered if someone could clarify like

[54:59] where that's at and what we could expect

[55:01] with this if we vote for it. You want to

[55:03] talk?

[55:05] >> Huh?

[55:07] >> Joyce, did you want to talk?

[55:12] So, so right now, typically we don't

[55:14] allow outsiders to speak at the town

[55:18] meeting. In this case, um Joyce Palmer

[55:22] Fortune is the chair of the board of

[55:24] oversight for the senior center, and I

[55:27] believe she would be able to answer that

[55:28] question the best. Joyce.

[55:32] >> Uh, thank you very much for asking the

[55:34] question. Um, the board of oversight has

[55:37] been looking into new locations for the

[55:40] senior center for gez 2 three years now.

[55:43] We've been doing studies. We've done a

[55:45] lot of work with uh consultants with a

[55:48] group called EDM studio and we had them

[55:51] look at many many places within the

[55:53] towns uh including the place we are

[55:58] proposing in our budget which is um 112

[56:01] Ammeris Road. Uh and then we also had

[56:05] them look at uh 8 Conway Street in

[56:08] Deerfield which is Gerfield's current

[56:11] town hall. Um, when they looked at these

[56:14] buildings, they said, "You're going to

[56:18] need $8 million

[56:21] to renovate 8 Conway Street." We looked

[56:25] at it and said, "Five probably. We could

[56:29] probably live without some of the

[56:30] things." They said 5 million. So that's

[56:34] a building with decades of deferred

[56:38] maintenance

[56:40] that is in really rough shape. There's a

[56:43] reason why the Deerfield Town staff are

[56:45] leaving the building and going into a

[56:47] new renovated facility. So with that

[56:52] context, we found the most coste

[56:54] effective thing to do was to rent a

[56:58] building that is in really good shape.

[57:01] No deferred maintenance. whatsoever. A

[57:04] place that is I would call it an

[57:07] adequate senior center. It's not a

[57:08] luxurious senior center. It's an

[57:10] adequate senior center. Happens to be

[57:12] located in Sunderland. Uh and I think it

[57:15] would uh help us with our growth. We are

[57:18] growing and growing and growing and we

[57:20] can expand our services without

[57:22] expanding our staff because we could use

[57:24] our staff more efficiently if we're all

[57:27] at one location. Um, I think uh some

[57:31] people in Deerfield might have been

[57:32] disappointed. I guess that might come

[57:34] under the category of saying trying to

[57:37] me telling you what somebody else

[57:38] thinks. So maybe I I'll stay away from

[57:40] that. But there are people who are

[57:42] disappointed that the Sun the senior

[57:44] center might be in Sunderland and uh

[57:47] they want to offer the building kind of

[57:50] asis basically with minimal maintenance,

[57:55] minimal renovations

[57:57] and the board of oversight just thinks

[58:00] that's not a good idea for our seniors.

[58:03] Uh ultimately that location will be more

[58:07] expensive

[58:09] because of all the repairs that are

[58:11] needed on the building and those repairs

[58:14] are going to come from money from the

[58:16] three towns and that is not by any means

[58:19] a done deal. Okay, that is not it has

[58:22] not been discussed in Sunderland. It's

[58:24] not been discussed in Wheatley. Do we

[58:26] want to ask our taxpayers to spend the

[58:30] money for the deferred maintenance on a

[58:32] building that Deerfield will own in the

[58:34] end of the day? I don't know. That has

[58:37] just not been discussed. It was never on

[58:39] the board of oversight's plate to make

[58:42] that decision. But some folks in

[58:45] Deerfield want us to consider that. And

[58:47] it's kind of too late in the budget

[58:49] cycle for us to really consider that.

[58:51] What I would like you to consider

[58:54] is

[58:56] putting this voting for this override at

[58:59] town meeting and then of course it goes

[59:01] to your ballot box and put it to the

[59:04] voters. The voters get to decide on

[59:06] this. Okay. I don't know that there is a

[59:09] cheaper option out there than the one

[59:10] we've put forward. Our senior center is

[59:13] about right now 0.5%

[59:17] of your budget and we are asking you to

[59:20] roughly double that.

[59:22] But seniors,

[59:25] you show up. You show up when the

[59:28] schools need you. You show up when the

[59:31] highway department needs you. You show

[59:32] up when everyone needs you. And here's

[59:35] one time when I'm asking everybody to

[59:38] show up for the seniors and for all the

[59:42] things the senior center does that helps

[59:45] every single senior. We are growing. We

[59:47] have an exponential growth rate and we

[59:49] are like way past

[59:52] the limitations of the space we have

[59:53] right now. Uh so my choice my argument

[59:58] to you is let's vote on what the board

[1:00:00] of oversight has put before you. We're

[1:00:04] looking at the interest of all three

[1:00:07] towns and the seniors of all three towns

[1:00:10] when we made our recommendation

[1:00:12] to rent at 112 Ammeris Road with the

[1:00:16] option to buy in the future. Okay. And

[1:00:19] we were looking at really what is best

[1:00:21] for all three towns. Okay. If that fails

[1:00:25] in one of the towns, then we're back to

[1:00:27] square one and we have to consider

[1:00:29] everything. But I can tell you, we're

[1:00:32] not going to get something cheaper.

[1:00:34] We're not going to be able to get

[1:00:35] anything cheaper. Our estimates for what

[1:00:39] we would need to do at 8 Conway Street

[1:00:41] are very different from what some folks

[1:00:45] in Deerfield are are uh proposing. So,

[1:00:50] reasonable people of Sunderland, I hope

[1:00:52] you hear me. And um thank you, Tom, for

[1:00:55] letting me have a few minutes to speak.

[1:01:06] If I could just add a couple quick

[1:01:07] things before we get to our next

[1:01:09] speaker. Um, just want to clarify that

[1:01:11] uh this has to pass tonight and then it

[1:01:13] goes to the election and it has to pass

[1:01:16] not only in Sunderland but in Deerfield

[1:01:18] and Weightley. Also, if any of those

[1:01:20] three towns voted down, it does not

[1:01:22] happen. Just so everyone's aware of how

[1:01:23] that works. Um, I also would want to

[1:01:25] there's one quick little thing and

[1:01:26] that's that, um, I was actually very

[1:01:27] surprised when we had our presentation

[1:01:29] from the senior center recently about

[1:01:31] how much the numbers of seniors have

[1:01:33] grown in town. And if we had the same

[1:01:36] growth in our students in town, we'd be

[1:01:39] talking about millions of more dollars

[1:01:41] for the schools in order to to to meet

[1:01:44] their needs. And so having a modest

[1:01:47] increase in in funds for the senior

[1:01:50] center for this much larger population

[1:01:52] than we had even 10 years ago um is a

[1:01:55] rec is a reflection of that growth not

[1:01:59] just of the of the increased needs of

[1:02:00] the senior center itself. Thank you.

[1:02:02] Please go ahead.

[1:02:03] >> Actually Nathaniel, I'm just going to

[1:02:05] build on your comment. Uh if you I

[1:02:07] didn't see the presentation. I apologize

[1:02:09] for that. if we could get some

[1:02:10] information on the total participation

[1:02:12] in the senior center and then the

[1:02:14] Sunderland portion of that and then also

[1:02:17] if I'm understanding correctly the

[1:02:18] expenses listed in the override portion

[1:02:20] the 175,000 I think it is is that just

[1:02:23] for the rent of the building or are

[1:02:24] there other costs baked into that number

[1:02:26] please

[1:02:28] >> I'm going to answer that last part first

[1:02:29] and then go backwards from there um so

[1:02:31] the override amount the difference

[1:02:33] between the override amount and the base

[1:02:35] budget amount is the cost of the senior

[1:02:38] center that's the increase cost to be

[1:02:40] able to rent the building and do all the

[1:02:42] things we need to do. Um, so if it

[1:02:44] doesn't pass, the lower budget amount is

[1:02:46] the amount that the senior center would

[1:02:48] get um in their current location and

[1:02:50] current setup.

[1:02:51] Um, and then you were asking about the

[1:02:54] breakup the breakdown of uh the people

[1:02:56] in town. Do you have those information?

[1:02:59] I don't have them.

[1:03:04] Yeah, it might take me more than a

[1:03:06] minute to find it, but when we went

[1:03:08] through the numbers, basically the uh

[1:03:10] number of people uh using the senior

[1:03:13] center, uh it was getting close to like

[1:03:16] a thousand between the three towns. And

[1:03:18] when you uh broke it down by town, it

[1:03:21] was exactly in proportion to the number

[1:03:24] of seniors in the towns. So if you took

[1:03:27] the number of all the seniors in all the

[1:03:28] towns and then you took the number of

[1:03:31] seniors that live in Sunderland and you

[1:03:34] get a fraction, it's about 28%. If you

[1:03:36] look at the participation in senior

[1:03:38] center, 28% of the people are from

[1:03:40] Sunderland. It's it's really eerily

[1:03:43] close to just the fraction of people

[1:03:46] from uh of uh age 60 and above from the

[1:03:50] towns.

[1:03:52] I've got more detailed numbers somewhere

[1:03:55] in here, but I didn't have the screen

[1:03:57] up. So, but I'm happy to chat with

[1:03:59] anybody um another time.

[1:04:09] » Yes, sir.

[1:04:10] >> Thank you for Thank you for coming up to

[1:04:11] the microphone.

[1:04:12] >> Yeah, thank you for uh taking me out of

[1:04:15] order here. I just want to uh request

[1:04:19] that the the moderator ask people to

[1:04:24] identify who they are and where they

[1:04:27] live. So I am Jay Bowerman and I live at

[1:04:30] 5 South Silver Lane in Sunderland.

[1:04:34] >> Thank you Jay.

[1:04:42] » Are there any other questions? Yes, sir.

[1:04:47] My name is Andy Mars. I live at 62

[1:04:50] Howard Hepern Road. Just a technical

[1:04:52] question. Assuming we vote for the

[1:04:54] override and pass the override, but

[1:04:57] Deerfield doesn't agree to the senior

[1:05:00] center, what happens to the $53,000 and

[1:05:03] in terms of uh

[1:05:05] >> Good question.

[1:05:06] >> If we vote for the override and

[1:05:08] Deerfield doesn't vote for the senior

[1:05:10] center, what happens to the $53,000 that

[1:05:12] would be in our budget?

[1:05:15] Yeah. So the the short answer the short

[1:05:18] answer is is that the the money is

[1:05:20] contingent on the project going forward.

[1:05:22] Um and so the BU would um default for

[1:05:25] the lower budget if the three towns

[1:05:28] don't pass the money. Um and that money

[1:05:29] would get returned to the town in the

[1:05:31] form of free cash in the following year.

[1:05:50] At this point, I'd like town council

[1:05:52] just to clarify that and and and he'll

[1:05:54] just talk in legal terms so you'll be

[1:05:56] able to follow easily.

[1:06:02] » Good evening everyone. Michael

[1:06:04] Dortenzio, town council from KP Law.

[1:06:06] Thank you for having us here. Uh what

[1:06:08] Nathaniel said was correct. The money

[1:06:12] would be raised and appropriated because

[1:06:14] it is within the amount in article 3

[1:06:16] that you are raising and appropriating.

[1:06:18] So even if the uh senior center does not

[1:06:22] go forward in its current form, that

[1:06:25] money will be collected from taxes. If

[1:06:28] it is not spent as Nathan as Nathaniel

[1:06:30] said because it doesn't go forward in

[1:06:32] its current form, it will either close

[1:06:35] to free cash at the end of the year as

[1:06:37] Nathaniel said or it can be used by town

[1:06:39] officials within uh a certain number of

[1:06:42] days at the end of the fiscal year to

[1:06:44] close any overages and other line items.

[1:06:47] Those are the two items uh that could

[1:06:49] occur. Uh, of course you can also have a

[1:06:51] special town meeting in the fall once

[1:06:53] you determine what'll happen and you

[1:06:55] could move that money to some other

[1:06:57] purpose that the town wants to do. Thank

[1:06:59] you.

[1:07:00] >> Thank you.

[1:07:05] Okay. Any other questions?

[1:07:09] Peter.

[1:07:11] Hi. I'm My name is Peter Gagarin, 300

[1:07:13] North Main Street. Uh many years ago, I

[1:07:17] was head of the finance committee for a

[1:07:18] number of years. Uh I've been through

[1:07:21] many budgets. I always believed in

[1:07:26] having a relatively tight budget. Uh I

[1:07:28] know people have to pay taxes and and

[1:07:31] keeping our spending uh reasonably

[1:07:34] limited was always a a goal. Uh this

[1:07:37] town has

[1:07:39] wonderful town government. uh we don't

[1:07:42] do it by having a huge amount of money

[1:07:44] but every part of the government works

[1:07:46] incredibly well and efficiently uh to to

[1:07:50] provide us the services that they do. Um

[1:07:54] I had a couple people when I came into

[1:07:56] this meeting this evening that came up

[1:07:57] to me and said uh Peter can you tell us

[1:08:00] what's going on with this budget? How

[1:08:01] come it's up so much? How come the

[1:08:03] override is so much?

[1:08:06] And I pointed out oh maybe four things

[1:08:09] that were going on this year that are

[1:08:13] uh both unusual and very expensive. Uh

[1:08:17] one is the increase that all towns are

[1:08:20] feeling in health insurance costs.

[1:08:22] Okay. And obviously a lot of individuals

[1:08:25] feeling that too. And we can say all we

[1:08:28] want about why it's happened or whose

[1:08:30] fault it is or whatever. That doesn't

[1:08:33] make any difference. We have to provide

[1:08:35] health insurance for our employees and

[1:08:37] we have to pay what the going rate is.

[1:08:40] Second is

[1:08:43] at the elementary school

[1:08:45] a massive increase in the cost of spe

[1:08:48] special education.

[1:08:51] is one of those things

[1:08:54] that the law says you have to do it. And

[1:08:57] if you've got your head on the right

[1:08:58] way, you know you have to do it. Okay?

[1:09:01] We take care of every kid that walks

[1:09:03] through that door of the elementary

[1:09:05] school. And the cost of when their

[1:09:09] special needs are so severe that we have

[1:09:13] to send them to special schools, out of

[1:09:15] district placement we call them, and the

[1:09:18] transportation for that. uh those have

[1:09:21] just skyrocketed in the last year with

[1:09:23] additional students coming on board that

[1:09:25] we have you know spending over 150,000

[1:09:29] for a single student. Okay. And again

[1:09:33] it's the legal thing we have to do it

[1:09:36] and it's also it's the right thing. It

[1:09:38] just costs a huge amount of money. Third

[1:09:41] major increase is that we have more kids

[1:09:43] going to Frontier

[1:09:46] this year, which is next year's budget

[1:09:49] allocation between the four towns is

[1:09:51] based on in part how many kids you have

[1:09:55] there. And so

[1:09:58] Frontier's budget overall increase has

[1:10:00] not been that large, but Sunderland is

[1:10:02] bearing the lion share of it.

[1:10:05] And the fourth thing that I would pick

[1:10:07] out is our plans for a new senior

[1:10:10] center. Uh we have very late to the game

[1:10:15] in terms of providing adequate space for

[1:10:18] a senior center. Uh I think that

[1:10:21] everybody realizes that um but that also

[1:10:25] is a new expense.

[1:10:28] And so with each of these folks I talked

[1:10:29] to before the meeting, they walked away

[1:10:32] saying, "Ah, okay, it makes sense." And

[1:10:34] then I said, "Can you support this in

[1:10:38] the vote?" And the answer was clearly

[1:10:40] yes, because it's something we need to

[1:10:43] do. Um,

[1:10:48] we have to vote tonight on this this

[1:10:50] article here to pass that. And and the

[1:10:52] sense I get from this room is that

[1:10:53] that's not going to be a problem. the

[1:10:55] vote that really is uh is the deciding

[1:10:59] thing will be next Saturday at the

[1:11:00] ballot box. Okay? And and overrides

[1:11:04] generally will pass a town meeting

[1:11:06] without too much difficulty and it's a

[1:11:08] real challenge to get them passed at the

[1:11:10] ballot box. So I would just say that

[1:11:13] again going back all my years involved

[1:11:15] with town finances, it's like how do we

[1:11:18] both offer good services but also keep

[1:11:20] budgets pretty tight. Believe it or not,

[1:11:23] the budget that's been proposed here

[1:11:25] this evening with the override amount is

[1:11:30] a tight budget. You heard Darius talk

[1:11:33] about what they've already

[1:11:36] at the elementary school in order to get

[1:11:38] to this level. So, I hope that you and

[1:11:43] your friends will join me and many

[1:11:46] others here in voting next Saturday to

[1:11:49] pass this. Otherwise, it's not going to be pretty.

[1:11:53] Thank you.

[1:12:04] Okay, I don't see anybody else lined up

[1:12:05] at the microphones.

[1:12:08] Are we ready to vote?

[1:12:11] So, red and green cards,

[1:12:15] put the yellow ones away.

[1:12:19] All those in favor

[1:12:22] of article three,

[1:12:25] hold up your green cards.

[1:12:31] Those opposed

[1:12:33] red cards.

[1:12:38] Moderator declares 2/3 majority. Article

[1:12:42] passes.

[1:12:55] Article four.

[1:12:59] All right. Article four. Move the town

[1:13:02] vote to transfer from capital

[1:13:03] stabilization fund

[1:13:06] uh

[1:13:08] $357,878.22

[1:13:12] 22 for the fiscal year 2027 capital

[1:13:15] budget specifically for the capital

[1:13:16] equipment, buildings, facilities, and

[1:13:18] other capital projects as shown on a

[1:13:21] document entitled FY27 capital budget by

[1:13:23] funding source as on file with the town

[1:13:25] clerk and as may be necessary in

[1:13:27] connection there within. uh and to

[1:13:30] authorize one or more taxexempt lease

[1:13:32] purchase finance agreements pursuant to

[1:13:34] general law chapter 44 section 21C for

[1:13:37] capital equipment identified in said

[1:13:39] document for terms not exceeding not to

[1:13:42] exceed the useful life of the equipment

[1:13:43] as determined by the select board.

[1:13:47] >> Second.

[1:13:49] >> So we have a motion made and seconded

[1:13:51] because everyone doesn't have the

[1:13:54] information packets. Nathaniel, could

[1:13:56] you just read quickly the uh the items

[1:13:58] that are on the capital budget plan?

[1:14:01] >> Absolutely. Our first item is for the

[1:14:03] police department and that is public

[1:14:05] safety complex and booking room video

[1:14:07] and that is $10,000500.

[1:14:10] Uh a new cruiser for the night shift and

[1:14:12] that is $80,000 for a total of $90,500

[1:14:16] for the police department. Uh for the

[1:14:18] library, there's a remodel of the door

[1:14:20] to the reading room for $15,000.

[1:14:23] For the highway, there's a Ventrek

[1:14:25] sideway plow mower with cab for $70,000

[1:14:28] and an asphalt roller with small tractor

[1:14:31] for $39,000 for a total of $109,000.

[1:14:35] For the South County Senior Center,

[1:14:37] there's new building furniture. Um, a

[1:14:39] total of $18,762.92,

[1:14:44] which is our share of the total for the

[1:14:46] three towns. um highway department. A we

[1:14:49] have uh a backhoe year six lease, truck

[1:14:53] year four lease and loader year five

[1:14:55] lease uh for $34,22063,

[1:14:59] $40,39467

[1:15:02] and $50,000 even for a total of leases

[1:15:05] of $124,615.30.

[1:15:10] The total capital stabilization projects

[1:15:12] all around are $357,87822.

[1:15:18] » Okay. Are there any questions on this

[1:15:20] article and motion?

[1:15:24] >> Not seeing any. Yes.

[1:15:36] » You can try.

[1:15:42] Um I'm Ann Nelbam on South Main Street

[1:15:45] and I had left a message for George um

[1:15:49] during one of the snowstorms. I was

[1:15:51] coming back from work from Westfield and

[1:15:54] some reason ways took me off of 91 and

[1:15:58] sent me down Route 9 and up 47.

[1:16:02] And I don't know if people realize how

[1:16:04] great our highway department is, but as

[1:16:08] soon as I got through Hadley on Route 47

[1:16:12] and got to Sunderland, it was a

[1:16:15] completely different road. It was

[1:16:17] plowed. Well, it took me 45 minutes just

[1:16:21] to get off 91 and go on Route 9 and come

[1:16:24] home. And then I had to go to Deerfield,

[1:16:27] South Deerfield. The roads weren't that

[1:16:29] good in South Deerfield, which really

[1:16:31] shocked me. And Sunderland was just by

[1:16:33] far plowed so well. And I don't think

[1:16:38] our highway crew gets enough uh credit

[1:16:41] for all that hard work and extra time

[1:16:44] they put in. So, thank you, GEORGE.

[1:16:58] All right. Are there any other

[1:16:59] questions?

[1:17:04] » Yes, sir.

[1:17:07] Thank you for your comments.

[1:17:16] » Want me

[1:17:16] >> talk?

[1:17:17] >> Uh Will Sillin, uh 34 South Main Street.

[1:17:21] Um,

[1:17:23] I'm looking at looks like we're we're

[1:17:25] spending $357,000

[1:17:28] out of the stabilization fund, right? Is

[1:17:30] that what I'm seeing?

[1:17:31] >> That is correct. Yes.

[1:17:32] >> Okay. And then underneath it, the

[1:17:34] balance as of last month was $141,000.

[1:17:38] So, that's pretty cool.

[1:17:40] >> Yeah. So, so great question. Um, we have

[1:17:44] a couple years ago we passed a a bunch

[1:17:46] of years ago we passed $125,000

[1:17:49] stabilization override. That meant that

[1:17:51] every year we were collecting that much

[1:17:53] money for capital projects already. And

[1:17:55] then two or three years ago, I don't

[1:17:56] remember exactly how many, we passed

[1:17:58] another override over stabilization for

[1:18:00] capital to increase that amount to 400 I

[1:18:02] think we're at $430,000

[1:18:05] now. So the the bottom number is our

[1:18:08] starting balance. we're adding 430,000

[1:18:10] and then spending the 357ish,000. Um the

[1:18:13] reason that we're making sure we spend

[1:18:15] less than we bring in is because we know

[1:18:17] that we have some large looming projects

[1:18:19] including the school roof on this

[1:18:21] building right here. Um and we're trying

[1:18:23] the capital stabilization committee is

[1:18:24] trying really hard to put ourselves in a

[1:18:27] good fiscal position for when that comes

[1:18:29] up so we have a nest egg set aside. So,

[1:18:31] with the money going out and the amount

[1:18:34] we started with, we're ending up uh

[1:18:37] right around $200,000 in the account for

[1:18:39] seed money for that going in the future.

[1:18:44] Okay. Are there any other questions?

[1:18:48] So, Tom, meeting floor. According to

[1:18:50] Mass General Law, chapter 44, section

[1:18:52] 21C,

[1:18:54] this requires a twothirds vote. So, get

[1:18:57] those cards ready. All those in favor,

[1:19:00] please hold up your green cards.

[1:19:05] Those opposed, please hold up a red

[1:19:07] card.

[1:19:11] Declare it unanimous.

[1:19:15] Article five. moves the town vote to

[1:19:18] transfer from free cash to pay any

[1:19:21] unpaid bills of previous fiscal year,

[1:19:24] specifically invoice number 2743

[1:19:30] for a plumbing on April 3rd, 2025 for

[1:19:35] $275.

[1:19:40] Just

[1:19:41] >> second.

[1:19:42] >> We have a motion made and pay to pay

[1:19:45] some old. Do

[1:19:45] >> you mean

[1:19:46] Hollis, are you meaning to hold the

[1:19:48] yellow card or you've Oh, got it. All

[1:19:51] right.

[1:19:52] >> I I think I think Hollis is trying to

[1:19:54] get it. Keep going.

[1:19:55] >> I'm with you.

[1:19:58] >> Are there Are there any questions? Just

[1:20:01] pass. Now,

[1:20:04] because of Mass General Law, chapter 44,

[1:20:07] section 64, we need a four fifths.

[1:20:11] You're you're stressing your moderator

[1:20:13] with the math up here. Okay. So, all

[1:20:16] those in favor of this article, please

[1:20:17] hold up your green.

[1:20:21] Those opposed with the red,

[1:20:25] declare it unanimous,

[1:20:32] article six.

[1:20:36] Okay. Move that the town vote to amend

[1:20:38] the fiscal year 2025 budget by

[1:20:41] increasing the board of health personnel

[1:20:43] service line item by increasing the

[1:20:46] board of health personal service line

[1:20:47] item by $5,896.33

[1:20:51] for the purpose of correcting an

[1:20:53] administrative error in processing the

[1:20:55] payroll of the former health agent from

[1:20:58] October 21, 2024 to March 26, 2025 said

[1:21:02] some to be transferred from certified

[1:21:05] free Dash

[1:21:08] >> second.

[1:21:08] >> Okay, we have a motion made and

[1:21:10] seconded. Explanation.

[1:21:16] » Um,

[1:21:17] we had a situation where we had

[1:21:20] transition in personnel and the person

[1:21:24] who um the per the health agent had not

[1:21:30] been putting in his own time sheet. It

[1:21:32] had been done by an employee and that

[1:21:36] employee um left and we had new

[1:21:39] employees and another person um did not

[1:21:44] manage to get the time sheets in and we

[1:21:48] had a situation where um the agent left

[1:21:54] and retired and didn't realize until it

[1:21:57] uh almost the following year about 9

[1:22:00] months later that he had not been paid

[1:22:02] for 6 months. Um, and so we needed to

[1:22:07] rectify the situation

[1:22:09] and I apologized. I was new. We had a

[1:22:13] lot of different transitions going on

[1:22:15] and so we are trying to just correct an

[1:22:19] error um with this payment.

[1:22:24] >> Are there any questions?

[1:22:27] Dylan, uh,

[1:22:28] >> just from a process standpoint, can we

[1:22:30] amend the fiscal year 2025 budget? Does

[1:22:33] that exist anymore or do we need to just

[1:22:35] pay the bill like the motion before?

[1:22:39] >> I'll let council answer that. We had a

[1:22:42] conversation about it.

[1:22:50] » Thank you, Michael Dortenzio, town

[1:22:52] council. Thank you for the question. uh

[1:22:54] so paying bills that uh have already

[1:22:58] been incurred. So this is different

[1:23:00] because the bill that was in the last

[1:23:02] article was one that was received after

[1:23:04] the fiscal year. Right? That's why uh it

[1:23:07] requires the four fifths vote under

[1:23:09] section 64. Uh this was uh an uh a

[1:23:13] charge that the town had already

[1:23:15] authorized in a previous fiscal year. So

[1:23:17] it's not the bill we're paying it late

[1:23:20] but the bill wasn't received late. the

[1:23:22] services were rendered and we were aware

[1:23:24] that they were rendered because this was

[1:23:25] a town employee. Um so for that reason

[1:23:28] in my opinion this is a valid way uh to

[1:23:31] amend the budget if um a little

[1:23:33] unconventional but it does work uh and

[1:23:36] it solves the issue of making sure that

[1:23:38] the individual is paid for those hours

[1:23:40] that were worked. Thank you. Thank you.

[1:23:43] Okay.

[1:23:46] >> Any other questions?

[1:23:48] Mr. Bertrron

[1:23:58] » Scott Berser on 7 Old Emmeris Road. I'm

[1:24:01] going to put on the hat of my esteemed

[1:24:03] colleague Peter Ggeraran from many years

[1:24:05] ago and ask what is the value of

[1:24:07] certified free cash?

[1:24:11] >> I was going to ask what the value of

[1:24:13] certified free cash is.

[1:24:18] Oh, the total.

[1:24:21] >> You probably want to know stabilization,

[1:24:22] too, right?

[1:24:25] >> Well, if you're going to do the uh All

[1:24:27] right,

[1:24:27] >> Russ Krenshaw question. That's so our

[1:24:30] opening balances are $574,883

[1:24:35] in free cash, $379,911

[1:24:39] in stabilization, um 141537

[1:24:43] in capital stabilization, $86,580

[1:24:47] in the Comcast PEG access fund,

[1:24:50] $1,14,463

[1:24:53] in the CPA fund, and 1.266426 266426

[1:24:58] million in the sewer reserve fund.

[1:25:02] >> You're welcome.

[1:25:04] Okay, any other questions?

[1:25:07] So, basically, you want to pay somebody

[1:25:09] that hasn't been paid.

[1:25:12] All those in favor, please.

[1:25:15] Green cards.

[1:25:17] All those opposed, red card.

[1:25:20] Declare that unanimous.

[1:25:23] Article 7.

[1:25:25] All right.

[1:25:42] Okay. If we want to speed it up, people

[1:25:45] are putting their motions back on the

[1:25:48] table. So, if you don't have the written

[1:25:50] motions, and if everybody gets a copy of

[1:25:53] the motions, then we can do away with

[1:25:56] reading all of these motions.

[1:26:04] » Thank you, Wendy.

[1:26:09] » All right, so we'll give everyone a

[1:26:10] minute to grab them and then we will

[1:26:12] dispense with the reading of article 7

[1:26:14] and move from there. But I'll give

[1:26:16] everyone a minute first.

[1:26:20] Oh, I look Yeah, I was I'm looking

[1:26:22] forward to

[1:26:23] >> not reading the

[1:26:24] >> I mean, you guys want to listen to me

[1:26:26] read five pages in a row? Sure.

[1:26:37] » Yeah, it's a good chocolate break time.

[1:26:40] >> Sold.

[1:26:51] Is every is everybody uh have a copy?

[1:26:55] I have one up here.

[1:27:04] » What's that?

[1:27:06] Okay,

[1:27:08] we have additional ones in the back. You

[1:27:11] need a copy.

[1:27:14] Article 7. All right. We're going to

[1:27:17] dispense with reading of article 7.

[1:27:19] is the community preservation

[1:27:21] committee um moving money around the

[1:27:24] various reserve funds. So, you still

[1:27:25] have to make a motion.

[1:27:27] >> I move article 7.

[1:27:29] >> Second.

[1:27:30] >> All right. We have a motion made and

[1:27:32] seconded. Basically, art article 7. This

[1:27:35] is the Jennifer article. Um, and Jenn

[1:27:39] Jennifer Uncles is one of the only

[1:27:40] people in the world that understands how

[1:27:42] this stuff works. And and basically what this says is that we we take in

[1:27:48] Sunderland has a CPA of 3% that we get

[1:27:52] from the state hopefully and 3% from our

[1:27:55] taxes. And there are certain items,

[1:27:57] three locations that we have to put a

[1:28:00] certain percentage of way. And what this

[1:28:02] does is this addresses one the

[1:28:05] administrative expenses for CPA and then

[1:28:09] it also establishes the minimum

[1:28:12] contribution to each of the funding that the CPA needs to deal with.

[1:28:18] Jennifer, is that right? Basically,

[1:28:23] okay. Is there any other questions on on

[1:28:26] this article?

[1:28:29] Seeing no yellow cards.

[1:28:32] All those in favor, please signify with

[1:28:34] the green cards. Those opposed red

[1:28:37] cards.

[1:28:40] Declare that declare unanimous.

[1:28:45] » Article eight.

[1:28:46] >> I motion we move article 8.

[1:28:49] >> Second.

[1:28:54] » So article 8 is actually a Jennifer.

[1:28:58] Does somebody with CPA want to talk

[1:28:59] about these articles in unison?

[1:29:03] Our chair.

[1:29:11] » Hi, my name is Megan Arwin. I'm at 206

[1:29:14] River Road. Um and um this article is to

[1:29:20] help establish an orchard project here

[1:29:21] on the Sunderland Elementary School

[1:29:23] project that's adjacent to the community

[1:29:26] path. And the money that I'm seeking

[1:29:30] through this uh CPA funding is to help

[1:29:32] with the establishment and the

[1:29:33] maintenance of this project over the

[1:29:36] next 3 to 5 years depending on its

[1:29:39] needs. And uh the idea is to have it be

[1:29:41] a community space that a space that

[1:29:44] community can engage with and also for

[1:29:46] the students to learn from and to see

[1:29:49] hopefully if Thrive and and how

[1:29:53] programming through that orchard can

[1:29:54] bring community together and and

[1:29:56] everybody hopefully enjoying the fruits

[1:29:59] that come from it.

[1:30:02] Sun some has been very fortunate with

[1:30:03] the CPA projects and it's it'd be great

[1:30:07] if we we could and we do put a pictorial

[1:30:12] thing on the walls to see how the money

[1:30:13] is used. It's amazing projects that have

[1:30:16] gone forward. Any of have any questions

[1:30:18] on article 8?

[1:30:23] Let's see no questions. All those in

[1:30:24] favor of article 8, please green cards.

[1:30:28] opposed red cards.

[1:30:32] We'll declare it uni uh majority. Yes.

[1:30:38] >> Thank you.

[1:30:39] >> Article nine.

[1:30:41] >> I move I move article 9.

[1:30:43] >> Second.

[1:30:46] » Jennifer.

[1:30:48] >> Um my name is Jennifer Unless. I'm on

[1:30:50] North Silver Lane. Um on the

[1:30:52] Conservation Commission as well. And

[1:30:54] this article is to

[1:30:57] move 100,000 to the conservation trust

[1:31:00] fund which has a balance of $312,020.

[1:31:06] And some of the things we've used that

[1:31:09] conservation trust money is to do the

[1:31:11] town match for APR land. Not too long

[1:31:15] ago, we put $50,000 toward some APR

[1:31:18] parcels up in the north part of town.

[1:31:21] There's one in process now that's almost

[1:31:23] $10,000 on Russell Street for the town

[1:31:25] match part and there's a couple

[1:31:28] conversations happening for a

[1:31:29] conservation restriction and another

[1:31:32] parcel for some kind of protection.

[1:31:35] We're not sure what that looks like yet.

[1:31:37] So those other hopper projects will

[1:31:40] deplete that 312,000. So the 100,000

[1:31:43] will bring it back up for projects that

[1:31:47] come up between now and next town

[1:31:49] meeting.

[1:31:51] So, so basically also anytime that the the town or the state wants to

[1:31:55] purchase property andor restrictions on

[1:31:58] property, the town is always asked to

[1:32:00] make some kind of contribution. So, a

[1:32:03] lot of times the CPA money, it goes into

[1:32:06] the conservation commission and and the

[1:32:07] conservation commission will use it in

[1:32:09] these in these applications to help the

[1:32:12] town purchase these restrictions andor

[1:32:14] land.

[1:32:16] Any other questions on article 9?

[1:32:20] All those in favor for article 9,

[1:32:23] green, opposed, red,

[1:32:27] declare it unanimous.

[1:32:30] Article 10.

[1:32:33] All right. Article 10 is a change to the

[1:32:36] ADU laws uh pursuant to the changes at

[1:32:38] the state level. Um

[1:32:40] >> make the motion.

[1:32:41] >> You have to make a motion.

[1:32:42] >> Right. Sorry. I move article 10.

[1:32:45] >> Second. We have a motion made and

[1:32:48] seconded explanation.

[1:32:50] >> Yep.

[1:32:52] >> Uh so the state as I'm sure many people

[1:32:55] are aware recently changed the laws

[1:32:57] around additional dwelling units. Um and

[1:32:59] once they passed that law basically it

[1:33:01] opens up the floodgates for without

[1:33:04] local regulation. It's sort of the wild

[1:33:07] west on them. People can do whatever

[1:33:08] they want. Um, towns are encouraged to

[1:33:11] adopt individual bylaws that set our own

[1:33:15] regulations around them within the scope

[1:33:17] of the of the state regulations. Uh, and

[1:33:19] that's what this article is.

[1:33:23] If you want to talk, just come on up and

[1:33:24] get mine. So, yeah. So, we're going to

[1:33:27] need the planning board to give an oral

[1:33:30] presentation and it's part of our master

[1:33:33] in the laws that they got to talk.

[1:33:37] >> Good evening everyone. Uh my name is

[1:33:39] David Dean. I'm at 153 Hadley Road. I'm

[1:33:41] also a member of the planning board. Um

[1:33:45] as uh as Nathaniel said, the state of

[1:33:47] Massachusetts updated its laws uh back

[1:33:49] in 2024 to allow accessory dwelling

[1:33:52] units by right um under certain

[1:33:55] circumstances. And I know there was a

[1:33:57] proposed accessory dwelling unit uh

[1:33:59] bylaw that was uh made several years ago

[1:34:02] that was um that was voted down. This is

[1:34:05] a different situation. And what we're

[1:34:06] doing now is uh amending our zoning code

[1:34:10] or attempting to amend the zoning code

[1:34:12] to essentially comply with the uh the

[1:34:16] new state law that has been that has

[1:34:18] been passed. And um so the planning

[1:34:22] board worked with uh with FRCOG, the uh

[1:34:25] the Franklin County Regional Council of

[1:34:27] Governments, and also worked based on a

[1:34:31] uh a model bylaw that that was um that

[1:34:35] was promulgated. And we largely followed

[1:34:39] that um that model bylaw with a couple

[1:34:42] of small exceptions that I can just

[1:34:44] point out really quickly. Uh the first

[1:34:47] is that um the way that the state law is written is that um ADUs are allowed

[1:34:55] by right um with a a maximum size of

[1:34:59] either 900 square ft or half of the

[1:35:03] gross floor area of the um the primary

[1:35:07] dwelling. We've changed that slightly.

[1:35:10] Um, and I can explain why in a second,

[1:35:12] but what we've what we've done is we've

[1:35:14] gotten rid of the the half the gross

[1:35:16] floor area um uh portion and increased

[1:35:23] the maximum size from 900 ft² to 950 ft.

[1:35:27] That was based on a recommendation from

[1:35:29] uh from Furkog and some other folks we

[1:35:31] spoke with uh who suggested that um

[1:35:35] putting that limit too small would make

[1:35:38] um would make these units essentially

[1:35:41] economically uh not feasible. um just

[1:35:44] due to the cost of construction and the

[1:35:47] cost of

[1:35:49] um bringing those into compliance with building um and other codes which

[1:35:55] they must comply with. Uh the reason

[1:35:58] that we got rid of the half of the gross

[1:36:00] floor area requirement was um to ease

[1:36:05] the burden on our town administrative

[1:36:07] staff. This would be administered by the

[1:36:10] building inspector who's a single person

[1:36:12] who we share with with other towns. Um,

[1:36:16] and it's not quite as simple as just

[1:36:18] looking at the property card that you

[1:36:21] know is online because the way that the

[1:36:24] uh the state statute defines gross floor

[1:36:27] area is not just simply building area or

[1:36:30] what you would typically, you know, see

[1:36:32] as the uh square footage of a home in a

[1:36:35] real estate listing. it uh it can

[1:36:38] include basements but only if they are

[1:36:40] you know compliant in terms of uh of

[1:36:42] height um and you know doesn't include

[1:36:46] crawl spaces. It's it gets a little more

[1:36:49] complicated. So we wanted to ease that administrative burden and we also

[1:36:54] didn't believe that that that would have

[1:36:57] a material effect on um you know the

[1:37:00] ability of of people to to build these

[1:37:03] should they choose. Um, so I'll open the

[1:37:07] floor to comments now and happy to

[1:37:08] answer questions if they if they come

[1:37:10] up.

[1:37:13] Any questions?

[1:37:21] » State your name and uh address, please.

[1:37:23] >> Uh, Larry Re uh 60 North Plane Road.

[1:37:26] Phyllis Burman, 60 North Plane Road.

[1:37:30] The key Massachusetts requirement that a

[1:37:34] bioride adu not exceed half the gross

[1:37:37] floor area of the principal dwelling or

[1:37:41] a maximum of 900 ft whichever is smaller

[1:37:44] was designed to ensure the ADO remains

[1:37:47] accessory ADU or subordinate to the main

[1:37:51] home. This regulation ensures that the

[1:37:54] ADU does not dominate the property by

[1:37:57] keeping the ADU smaller than a primary

[1:37:59] residence. It maintains the

[1:38:02] neighborhood's character with the

[1:38:03] appearance of a lot that has a single

[1:38:05] family home with a secondary unit rather

[1:38:09] than a duplex or a multif family

[1:38:11] property. It limits the impact on local

[1:38:14] density and infrastructure by preventing

[1:38:16] the construction of two similarly sized

[1:38:20] homes on a single family lot and

[1:38:23] prevents creating essentially two family

[1:38:26] homes which require a different zoning

[1:38:28] law. The reasoning for this ADU

[1:38:32] regulation is sound.

[1:38:34] Several cities and towns in

[1:38:35] Massachusetts recognize the value of the

[1:38:37] size limitation and have or plan to

[1:38:40] adopt the requirements as is.

[1:38:44] Sunderland planning board proposes to

[1:38:47] slightly tweak the basic ADU size

[1:38:50] requirements in two ways. First, they

[1:38:53] change the maximum square footage from

[1:38:55] 900 to 950. The reason so given tonight

[1:38:59] was economic reason given by the

[1:39:02] planning board earlier

[1:39:05] uh was to facilitate the creation of

[1:39:09] fully handicapped accessible units which

[1:39:12] tend to need slightly more space. We

[1:39:15] don't we support that argument and

[1:39:18] sincerely wish that the extra space

[1:39:19] would actually be used for that good

[1:39:22] cause.

[1:39:23] We do very much oppose the second tweak

[1:39:27] of the basic ADU size limits. Playing

[1:39:29] board says they propose to entirely drop

[1:39:32] the clause quote or one half the gross

[1:39:35] floor area of the principal dwelling

[1:39:37] whichever is smaller. End quote.

[1:39:41] in order to make administration of the

[1:39:42] bylaw easier for the town staff.

[1:39:47] We're sorry that the administration of

[1:39:48] the ADU bylaws will mean more work to

[1:39:50] regulate it, but that's the job.

[1:39:55] We don't believe that a key ADU size

[1:39:58] regulation should be eliminate

[1:40:00] eliminated just to save administration

[1:40:04] efforts.

[1:40:06] other cities and towns

[1:40:09] are capable to do it capable of doing

[1:40:11] this.

[1:40:13] Um they can do the math on this ADU and

[1:40:16] protect from creating possible loopholes

[1:40:20] for developers to potentially capitalize

[1:40:22] on and Sunderland should do the same.

[1:40:25] For example,

[1:40:27] there's a lot at stake here. A

[1:40:29] nonoccupant landlord could build two

[1:40:31] similarsized buildings on a lot

[1:40:34] declaring the slightly smaller one to be

[1:40:37] an ADO and then rent both of them.

[1:40:41] Further every lot in the future

[1:40:42] development and you for all of these

[1:40:45] things as you know I'm planning you have

[1:40:48] to look to the future.

[1:40:51] A lot of future development could be

[1:40:53] treated this way with each in the

[1:40:55] development holding two fairly equal

[1:40:58] houses.

[1:41:01] Pardon me.

[1:41:05] Other cities and towns I said have no

[1:41:06] trouble doing this to protect from

[1:41:08] creating these loops loopholes and

[1:41:10] Sunderland should do the same.

[1:41:15] If Sunderland takes no action, ADUs are

[1:41:19] still allowed. It's state law.

[1:41:23] Uh uh in fact, there's two ADUs in town

[1:41:26] in process right now.

[1:41:29] But we can't ignore the danger of

[1:41:32] passing this proposed article as is and

[1:41:35] of losing the protection of that half

[1:41:39] size gross floor area safeguard.

[1:41:43] >> Larry, can you uh sum it up, please?

[1:41:45] >> Unless the here's a summation. Unless

[1:41:47] the amendment restores this requirement

[1:41:50] law, the article should not pass. And we

[1:41:54] have proposed language to put it back

[1:41:57] in. Thank you.

[1:42:00] Um, can we propose some language for

[1:42:04] >> So we can please

[1:42:06] >> I wish I could. I'm sorry. Um, again,

[1:42:10] I'm going to uh reiterate what he said.

[1:42:13] If this doesn't pass, and we think it

[1:42:16] should be taken back and rewritten to

[1:42:19] include the um the phrases that he was

[1:42:22] talking about, you're still going to be

[1:42:25] able to have um the ADUs in Sunderland.

[1:42:30] And in fact, like North Plain Road right

[1:42:32] now has one that's in progress. there

[1:42:35] was and it's it follows the exact state

[1:42:39] um regulations and there was absolutely

[1:42:43] no administrative um problems with it.

[1:42:48] There's another one on Monagu Road.

[1:42:51] Again, it's the same building person and

[1:42:55] um they had no trouble whatsoever

[1:42:58] following the regulations which they do

[1:43:01] in Graanby and Ammerst and Lever and um

[1:43:05] all of those towns have accepted the

[1:43:09] regulations the way they are. So we have

[1:43:13] proposed that the we would ex we would

[1:43:18] find article 10 acceptable if they

[1:43:21] changed

[1:43:23] um one of the regulations

[1:43:26] and we have it written and we emailed it

[1:43:29] to everybody. I don't know if they

[1:43:32] printed it or if you want a printed copy

[1:43:34] or that we give to Wendy or whatever.

[1:43:41] » Thank you, Phyllis.

[1:43:53] » So, are are you Did you want to make a

[1:43:55] motion?

[1:43:56] >> Do did you want to amend a motion? We

[1:43:58] want to

[1:44:04] » So do you want did you

[1:44:06] >> Yes.

[1:44:06] >> Did you want to amend the motion?

[1:44:08] >> We would amend amend the motion to to uh

[1:44:13] change

[1:44:14] uh section 125167.

[1:44:19] » I'm sorry. We would uh spec amend the

[1:44:23] motion to

[1:44:25] add two changes that

[1:44:28] they're required in two places in the in

[1:44:31] the proposed by level. What it does

[1:44:33] simply is return the requirement of

[1:44:36] having the limitation of a gross square

[1:44:39] foot gross floor area as well as the

[1:44:45] maximum square footage size. And we're

[1:44:48] okay with the maximum square footage

[1:44:50] size being 90.

[1:44:51] >> Can I hear you, ma'am?

[1:44:52] >> We're okay with the n the proposal

[1:44:54] changed by the planning board to change

[1:44:56] it from.

[1:44:56] >> So, so you're I I need your spe your

[1:44:59] specific amendment. The specific

[1:45:01] amendment is what's highlighted?

[1:45:08] » Should I should I read the whole thing?

[1:45:10] >> So, so I I'm going to read what I

[1:45:13] believe your amendment is.

[1:45:15] >> Yes.

[1:45:15] >> Okay. you tell. So I'm going to go

[1:45:18] change 125116B7

[1:45:25] by adding the red underlined text.

[1:45:29] Correct. So I'll read the whole chapter

[1:45:32] with with the I'll I I'll bring up what

[1:45:35] they wanted to look at.

[1:45:37] protected use ADU,

[1:45:41] auxiliary dwelling unit, an attached,

[1:45:44] detached, or internal ADU that is

[1:45:49] located or is proposed to be located on

[1:45:52] a lot in a single family residential

[1:45:55] zoning district and is not larger in

[1:45:59] gross floor area than this is the

[1:46:02] amendment

[1:46:04] half the gross floor area of the

[1:46:07] principal dwelling or

[1:46:11] this is now in this not a part of the

[1:46:13] amendment 950 square ft

[1:46:16] amendment whichever is smaller and

[1:46:19] provided that only one ADU on a lat on a

[1:46:23] lot may qualify as a protected use ADU

[1:46:27] an ADU that is non-conforming to zoning

[1:46:30] shall be still qualified as a protected

[1:46:33] use ADU if it otherwise meets

[1:46:36] definition. So the amendment is half the

[1:46:40] gross floor area of the principal

[1:46:43] dwelling or whichever is smaller and

[1:46:48] >> yes sir

[1:46:49] >> that is correct

[1:46:50] >> that's yes that's part one

[1:46:54] this the same language is required

[1:46:58] uh in 127

[1:46:59] >> speak into the mic

[1:47:00] >> I'm sorry I'm sorry I know

[1:47:01] >> the same same u information is required

[1:47:06] Ed in section 12511

[1:47:10] C6

[1:47:11] 2 AI.

[1:47:13] >> Yeah, we're we're get I'm getting I just

[1:47:14] want to go.

[1:47:15] >> Yes, sir.

[1:47:16] >> I I want to go one at a time.

[1:47:17] >> Yes.

[1:47:17] >> So, that first is all set.

[1:47:19] >> Yes, sir.

[1:47:20] >> So, that's part of the amendment. And

[1:47:22] the amendment also includes change

[1:47:27] 12516

[1:47:28] C-2-

[1:47:30] A-

[1:47:32] I by adding the following text which is

[1:47:35] red line up here. Protected use ADU

[1:47:38] shall not be larger than a gross floor

[1:47:41] area of 1/2 the gross floor area of the

[1:47:45] principal dwelling or

[1:47:49] whichever is smaller.

[1:47:52] Yeah.

[1:47:52] >> So that's your that's your amendment.

[1:47:54] >> It begins with one half.

[1:47:57] >> Yep.

[1:47:58] >> Yes. Yep.

[1:47:59] >> All right. So we have we have an

[1:48:00] amendment on the floor that needs to be

[1:48:03] second.

[1:48:06] >> So we so we have a motion made. We have

[1:48:10] an amendment made and seconded. Now

[1:48:13] discussion about the amendment. We're

[1:48:15] just talking about the amendment. Dana.

[1:48:20] Rosco, South Main Street, member of

[1:48:23] the planning board. So, uh, the planning

[1:48:26] board is required to have, um, a public

[1:48:29] hearing, um, before it proposes any, um,

[1:48:33] change to zoning bylaws. Um, we held

[1:48:36] that public hearing, um, back in

[1:48:39] January. Um, Larry and Phyllis attended.

[1:48:43] Um the objection um that they raised at

[1:48:47] that time uh was uh that uh a property

[1:48:53] owner could take a closet uh in their

[1:48:57] house and turn it into an ADU. The um

[1:49:01] state law is actually very clear uh on

[1:49:04] defining the minimum requirements for an

[1:49:09] ADU. It must have a bedroom. It must

[1:49:13] have a separate kitchen and it must have

[1:49:17] a separate bath. They uh they initially

[1:49:22] um asked us to uh to require a minimum

[1:49:28] square footage of 350 square ft. We

[1:49:34] asked uh the Franklin Regional Council

[1:49:37] of Governments that was advising us on

[1:49:40] this and FR COG said that that was

[1:49:45] illegal.

[1:49:46] Phyllis and Larry don't believe that

[1:49:49] that's illegal. They said that the

[1:49:52] citation

[1:49:54] uh that the FROG was using was specific

[1:49:58] to one municipality.

[1:50:01] Um, I I I honestly um the the planning

[1:50:05] board really really really

[1:50:09] talked and met and considered this um

[1:50:14] and and could not find um really a

[1:50:18] viable uh uh argument uh to to favor uh

[1:50:25] this uh language. uh and and felt like

[1:50:30] uh what our our intention was to make it

[1:50:34] easier for uh staff uh and the fact that

[1:50:40] uh lever uh and uh weightely uh uh have

[1:50:46] not had a problem I don't think is

[1:50:49] necessarily gerine to Sundance. So I I

[1:50:53] would not um be in favor of this.

[1:50:59] » Okay. So So so basically

[1:51:02] >> now now we need to address the moderator

[1:51:06] >> and and now we're we're into a maximum

[1:51:08] twominut response.

[1:51:10] >> Uh Mr. moderator uh may I respectfully

[1:51:12] say uh to uh Dana that uh some may I

[1:51:18] respectfully say to Denny's we

[1:51:19] mischaracterized some bits of that

[1:51:21] meeting uh by a good deal but in fact

[1:51:25] the law that we quoted to him and the u

[1:51:29] the other town was dealing with is an

[1:51:31] attorney general ruling uh it and it

[1:51:34] doesn't say you can't have a minimum ADU

[1:51:37] size it says you can't have a minimum

[1:51:40] ADU size if you don't have a minimum

[1:51:43] size for buildings for dwellings in

[1:51:45] town. Sunland does not have a minimum

[1:51:47] size for dwelling in town, meaning it

[1:51:50] defaults to the state values

[1:51:52] >> which is 100 square 150 square foot

[1:51:56] minimum.

[1:51:57] >> Thank you, Larry.

[1:51:58] >> Thank you.

[1:52:01] >> Um Jordan

[1:52:04] um the minimum the when we said a closet

[1:52:07] >> closer we can't hear you.

[1:52:08] >> I'm sorry. Wow. Uh,

[1:52:11] >> that's much better.

[1:52:13] >> Yeah. When we said a closet, we were

[1:52:17] talking about the state limit, which is

[1:52:21] 150 150 square ft for one room and 70

[1:52:26] square ft for another. And we thought

[1:52:28] that was very small. But again, they can

[1:52:31] do that. Even if the even if it's

[1:52:33] written the way it is, somebody can make

[1:52:36] it that small. that's part of the state

[1:52:39] law on it. Um, and we're looking to

[1:52:46] uh we're looking to have limits

[1:52:51] because ADUs are well I should be

[1:52:54] answering um it right. We we did go to a

[1:52:58] we went to a public meeting and the half

[1:53:03] that we the the the

[1:53:08] phrase that we're putting back in

[1:53:11] was not was not addressed. They didn't

[1:53:14] even say there were you know there was

[1:53:17] no recording of the meeting that was in

[1:53:19] a zoom or anything like that. So it's we

[1:53:22] did bring up at the meeting the minimum

[1:53:25] sizes and all that kind of stuff and

[1:53:29] basically the only answer we got for

[1:53:32] dropping that phrase was to

[1:53:35] uh to help um administrative

[1:53:38] duties and Grandby has the same uh building

[1:53:44] inspector as Sunderland does. They're

[1:53:47] doing them in Grandby. They're doing

[1:53:49] them in Hadley. They're doing them in Sunderland.

[1:53:54] There's like we said, there's already

[1:53:55] two in Sunderland.

[1:53:57] >> Thank you.

[1:53:58] fellas.

[1:54:02] » I like to spin around, too. Uh Doug

[1:54:04] Fulton, uh 140 North Main Street, and

[1:54:07] I'm also on the planning board. I just

[1:54:10] briefly um do appreciate Larry and

[1:54:14] Phyllis your participation in the

[1:54:16] hearings and and meetings. We really do.

[1:54:18] It's great. We're mostly lonely in the

[1:54:20] meetings. Anybody who's been on meetings

[1:54:22] knows how it goes. Um so having some um

[1:54:26] further town participation is awesome.

[1:54:28] We did hear the the concerns

[1:54:31] um and we actually talked about them and

[1:54:33] we went beyond that. We asked Furcog if

[1:54:36] you could give us information about the

[1:54:39] distribution of the housing sizes in

[1:54:42] Sunderland. Um, and they it came back

[1:54:46] because I you I think the one of your

[1:54:48] main arguments and I did hear it is, you

[1:54:51] know, a a what I'd call a t a tail

[1:54:53] wagging the dog situation of the ADU um

[1:54:57] being larger than the principal dwelling

[1:54:59] unit uh somehow and and that's one of

[1:55:02] the cases I think. Um

[1:55:04] the other case would be developers

[1:55:06] coming in by buying a lot and putting

[1:55:09] two small

[1:55:12] uh units on that lot while obeying all

[1:55:15] our other zoning laws. I think for the

[1:55:18] first case I mean again we looked we fur

[1:55:20] came back did the distribution it's 2%

[1:55:24] or less in Sunderland that are up to 900

[1:55:29] square feet currently. Um, it's few,

[1:55:32] very few and far between in this town.

[1:55:35] So, it's not that's not really an issue

[1:55:36] for us. And I'm not a developer, but I

[1:55:40] think there's some in the room or there

[1:55:41] were. Um, I don't think if they're

[1:55:43] getting if they're buying a lot in

[1:55:45] Sunderland and with our zoning laws and

[1:55:48] the frontage that you need to have, what

[1:55:50] they're putting in is uh effectively 2

[1:55:53] ADUs or two 900 or less square foot

[1:55:58] units. So it for those problems that we

[1:56:01] don't see existing, then we're adding

[1:56:04] this administrative burden and trying to

[1:56:07] figure that and have and put that on our

[1:56:10] building inspector. And I I personally

[1:56:13] think that uh we actually have about

[1:56:16] 30ome% of the homes in Sunderland that

[1:56:20] are 1,200 to 1,800 square ft who would

[1:56:24] then be pro they would be prohibited

[1:56:26] down to that half of the square footage.

[1:56:31] Um while their neighbor who has a 2,000

[1:56:34] square foot house wouldn't be uh in in

[1:56:37] what they want to do with their ADU. And

[1:56:38] I think putting that burden on them uh

[1:56:42] isn't really equitable uh and and what

[1:56:46] we want. And I so I think in that

[1:56:48] situation, you know, I what the state

[1:56:51] passed is something that that has to uh

[1:56:55] work for 350

[1:56:59] cities and towns in Massachusetts. Uh

[1:57:01] Boston, I think, is excluded from that,

[1:57:03] but all the other 350. Um, so of course

[1:57:07] it's not going to be exactly right for

[1:57:10] every town, which is why we made um a

[1:57:14] couple of the changes the way we did. So

[1:57:16] I would also be opposed to the

[1:57:18] amendment. Thank you.

[1:57:22] >> So at this time, Larry, I'm going to

[1:57:25] we've been up a few times and talk. So

[1:57:29] basically for for the moderator in town

[1:57:32] meeting to address it, it has to meet

[1:57:34] the corners of the they call it the four

[1:57:36] corners.

[1:57:38] The way it was presented, the amendment

[1:57:41] met the requirements for an amendment to

[1:57:44] be voted on by town meeting. So we're

[1:57:47] not right now we're going to vote

[1:57:49] specifically on the amendment.

[1:57:53] only has to pass by a

[1:57:56] majority vote.

[1:57:58] So we are voting on the the amendment

[1:58:00] and the amendment is

[1:58:03] adding the words half the gross floor

[1:58:06] area of the principal dwelling or

[1:58:10] whichever is smaller. And that's under

[1:58:13] 12516B7

[1:58:16] and 12516

[1:58:18] C2 AI. adding the words after floor area

[1:58:24] of 1/2 the gross floor area of the

[1:58:27] principal dwelling or whichever is

[1:58:31] smaller 950 ft whichever is smaller.

[1:58:37] Without seeing any other additional

[1:58:40] question cards, we are voting on the

[1:58:42] amendment. All those in favor of the

[1:58:44] amendment,

[1:58:46] green cards.

[1:58:48] All those opposed to the amendment red

[1:58:51] cards.

[1:58:53] The moderator will declare that the

[1:58:55] amendment fails. Now we go back to but

[1:59:01] that is in moderator and town meeting

[1:59:04] land. That's how an amendment should be

[1:59:07] offered. The discussion was great

[1:59:10] discussion by both parties of of why we

[1:59:14] did it. the changes and the questions of

[1:59:18] the that was outstanding. So right now

[1:59:21] the vote on the amendment fails. We are

[1:59:25] going to the article 10 the original

[1:59:26] article 10. All those in favor of

[1:59:29] article 10 which is the original bet

[1:59:32] presented by the planning board hold up

[1:59:34] your green cards.

[1:59:38] This is 2/3. All those opposed red cards

[1:59:42] declare 2/3.

[1:59:44] Article passes.

[1:59:48] » Article 11.

[1:59:50] >> I motion we move article 11.

[1:59:53] >> Second.

[1:59:59] » So this is the article that sets the

[2:00:01] revolving account limits for all of our

[2:00:04] town departments. Um certain town

[2:00:06] departments need to be able to bring in

[2:00:07] fees and then spend those fees on

[2:00:09] expenses throughout the year. Um and so

[2:00:11] they have revolving accounts for them.

[2:00:13] uh the state requires us to set limits

[2:00:14] on those and those are what are

[2:00:16] presented here.

[2:00:19] Any conversation?

[2:00:22] Any questions? Without seeing any yellow

[2:00:24] cards?

[2:00:27] All those in favor of article 11, raise

[2:00:30] your green cards.

[2:00:32] Opposed on article 11, red cards

[2:00:36] declare unanimous.

[2:00:38] Now, articles 12 through 17 are what we

[2:00:42] call consent articles. This is allows

[2:00:45] the town to do its normal business. So,

[2:00:48] we take 12 through 17 as in unison. A

[2:00:53] motion.

[2:00:55] >> I move articles 12 through 17.

[2:00:58] >> Second.

[2:01:02] Any discussion on the consent articles

[2:01:08] without hearing or seeing any yellow

[2:01:11] cards?

[2:01:12] All those in favor of the consent

[2:01:14] articles

[2:01:16] oppose red.

[2:01:21] Declare it unanimous.

[2:01:27] Now, article 18 is a citizen's petition.

[2:01:33] >> I motion we move article 18

[2:01:36] >> seconded. And at this time, I'd like the

[2:01:39] citizen that put in the petition to

[2:01:41] speak on the petition.

[2:01:45] » Uh Will Sllin, 34 South Main Street. I

[2:01:48] have a 3 and 1/2 minute read for the

[2:01:51] petition. I want to before that I want

[2:01:55] to thank you all for coming and staying

[2:01:57] and hearing this. And I want to also

[2:02:00] reiterate appreciation to folks on the

[2:02:03] stage and those on the floor who have

[2:02:05] put all the time and work into uh being

[2:02:08] ready for tonight. Uh running town

[2:02:11] government's pretty complicated. It's

[2:02:12] not getting any simpler. and I'm very

[2:02:14] grateful to have uh people like

[2:02:16] yourselves who spend a lot of time uh to

[2:02:21] help our town run. So, thank you.

[2:02:29] With that said, uh this article is a bit

[2:02:32] of a criticism. So, here I go. In 2018,

[2:02:36] annual town meeting authorized the

[2:02:38] select board to aggregate the

[2:02:39] electricity load of Sunderland residents

[2:02:41] and businesses and enter into agreements

[2:02:44] to purchase electric energy services

[2:02:46] independently or with other towns. It

[2:02:49] was expected but that by aggregation and

[2:02:52] going through a competitive bidding

[2:02:54] process that the town would secure

[2:02:56] supplier rates lower than that offered

[2:02:58] by Eversource. It would also provide

[2:03:00] rateayers town approved options to

[2:03:03] purchase energy greener than that

[2:03:04] supplied by Eversource.

[2:03:07] The first third three three-year

[2:03:08] contract was secured in 2020, not long

[2:03:11] after the ink dried on that contract,

[2:03:13] Eversource's rates increased

[2:03:15] substantially on into 2022.

[2:03:18] Assuming approximately 1500 rateayers in

[2:03:22] Sunderland, savings on average was about

[2:03:24] $800 per rateayer. The program delivered

[2:03:28] beautifully as promised and was a silver

[2:03:31] lining during a very difficult period.

[2:03:34] All those involved, particularly members

[2:03:36] of the select board and the energy

[2:03:37] committee, deserve credit for making

[2:03:39] those savings possible.

[2:03:41] Now it's 2026.

[2:03:44] A recent decision by the select board

[2:03:45] was the catalyst to bring this article

[2:03:47] forward. Having an opportunity to

[2:03:49] default the rate payers into an option

[2:03:52] more affordable than Eversource's

[2:03:53] current rate, the board voted to default

[2:03:55] the rate payers into a more expensive

[2:03:58] option that further exceeded

[2:04:00] Massachusetts mandates for green energy.

[2:04:04] This is not town money that is being

[2:04:06] spent and without some explicit

[2:04:08] authorization, it shouldn't be the

[2:04:10] select board's choice to increase and

[2:04:12] direct a private citizen spending to

[2:04:15] fulfill a perceived public priority.

[2:04:18] The utility bills go to the individual

[2:04:20] rate payer and the bills are paid from

[2:04:23] each individual's bank account. If

[2:04:25] expenses exceed an individual's ability

[2:04:27] to pay on time, Eversource doesn't send

[2:04:30] a note to the town. It's the individual

[2:04:32] rateayer who is on the hook. I made a

[2:04:35] survey at the website of the Colonial

[2:04:38] Power Group, the vendor that provides

[2:04:40] the electricity supply options for towns

[2:04:42] participating in the municipal

[2:04:44] aggregation program. And there was a

[2:04:47] handout. You might have seen it on the

[2:04:49] way in. Of 10 towns, Sunderland and its

[2:04:52] nine neighboring towns that work with

[2:04:54] Colonial Power Group, Sunderland

[2:04:57] currently has the most expensive default

[2:04:59] option. Sunderland also has the most

[2:05:02] expensive, lowest cost option of those

[2:05:05] 10 towns. And finally, Sunderland is

[2:05:08] currently one of just two of those towns

[2:05:10] that defaults their rate payers to an

[2:05:12] option other than the least expensive

[2:05:15] one available.

[2:05:17] The select board will benefit from this

[2:05:18] article should it pass or fail. If it

[2:05:21] passes, the board has clear instructions

[2:05:24] by a vote directly from the floor of

[2:05:26] annual town meeting to default the

[2:05:28] rateayers into the most affordable rate

[2:05:30] that meets the state mandates and the

[2:05:33] more expensive energy mixes become the

[2:05:36] options. If the article fails, then the

[2:05:39] select board's decision to raise the Sun

[2:05:41] Sunderland's rates will by default be

[2:05:43] affirmed at an annual town meeting. I

[2:05:46] submit that the Sunderland rateayers

[2:05:48] should have the benefit of the lowest

[2:05:50] cost option that meets the state

[2:05:52] mandates for their electricity as the

[2:05:55] default and the opportunity to spend

[2:05:57] more on greener options if that is their

[2:06:00] priority. I will be voting yes on this

[2:06:02] article. Thank you very much.

[2:06:06] >> Any additional comments, questions?

[2:06:10] Okay, just so we go into it, Mr. Mr.

[2:06:13] Sillin and I talked before and I limited

[2:06:17] Mr. Sillin to 3 minutes and 30 seconds

[2:06:20] approximately. So any debate I want to

[2:06:24] hold the same thing 3 minutes and 30

[2:06:26] seconds. Aaron,

[2:06:37] thank you. Aaron Falbo, 422 Ammeris

[2:06:40] Road. I'm also a member of the

[2:06:41] Sunderland Energy Committee. I just

[2:06:44] wanted to point out that the handout

[2:06:46] that Mr. Sillin referred to has 10 towns

[2:06:49] listed. The actual aggregation con

[2:06:52] consists of 16 towns. So there is some

[2:06:54] data missing that's in front of you and

[2:06:57] I'm not sure that it holds that

[2:06:59] Sunderland is the most expensive. Let me

[2:07:02] go back to how the aggregation was

[2:07:05] created, why it was voted on the way it

[2:07:08] was.

[2:07:10] In 2019 in June we the energy committee

[2:07:15] conducted a survey in town. We didn't

[2:07:19] presume to know what residents wanted in

[2:07:22] terms of this aggregation. So we

[2:07:24] conducted a survey uh this was now seven

[2:07:27] years ago. I don't have the exact

[2:07:28] numbers, but I can tell you about 60%

[2:07:31] of the respondents of that survey said

[2:07:34] we wanted the most renewable energy we

[2:07:37] could get at a price point at or below

[2:07:41] every source's price. A small handful of

[2:07:44] people said, "We want the most renewable

[2:07:46] energy could get regardless of the

[2:07:48] price." Another small handful said, "We

[2:07:51] want the cheapest energy we can get

[2:07:53] regardless of the renewable content." So

[2:07:56] the greatest majority said we want as

[2:07:59] much renewable energy as we can get but

[2:08:01] at a a reasonable price and that's

[2:08:04] exactly what the energy committee has

[2:08:06] endeavored to do. When we adopted the

[2:08:09] aggregation program I said at this body

[2:08:12] at town meeting said we do not control

[2:08:17] every source's price rate. They adjust

[2:08:20] their price every six months.

[2:08:23] The aggregation contract was typically

[2:08:25] two years or three years um providing

[2:08:28] price stability which was also a a

[2:08:31] beneficial feature. So during most of

[2:08:35] the aggregation years that we've been a

[2:08:37] part of this project as Mr. Sen pointed

[2:08:40] out the price has been lower than ever

[2:08:42] sources and we saved the town's

[2:08:44] rateayers over $2 million over the

[2:08:47] course of the aggregation while also

[2:08:49] providing additional renewable energy.

[2:08:54] There have been points and one of them

[2:08:56] was in the last um 6 months whenever

[2:08:59] Sourc's rate dipped below our

[2:09:01] aggregation rate. They happened to go

[2:09:04] out to bid. Ever Source went out to bid

[2:09:06] at a time when the market was at a

[2:09:08] minimum. If they had gone out to bid

[2:09:11] even a couple weeks later, they would

[2:09:13] have had to pay a much bigger price.

[2:09:15] They got very lucky. Um, and at that

[2:09:19] point, we came to the select board to

[2:09:21] notify them and the residents of Sunland

[2:09:24] that now the aggregation rate was higher

[2:09:26] than Eversource's rate. We gave them

[2:09:28] information how they could change their

[2:09:31] supplier back to Eversource if that's

[2:09:33] what they wanted to do. So in some the

[2:09:37] energy committ committee has been doing

[2:09:40] what we interpreted the people of this

[2:09:42] town wanted us to do. The mission of the

[2:09:45] energy committee itself is to guide the

[2:09:48] town toward a renewable energy future.

[2:09:51] If this U petition were to pass, that

[2:09:54] would no longer be the case because the

[2:09:56] cheapest

[2:09:58] default would necessarily be the minimum

[2:10:02] renewable energy required by law. That's

[2:10:05] not what the energy committee is set up

[2:10:08] to do and that's not what we interpret

[2:10:10] the will of the town to be. So that's

[2:10:13] why I would urge you to vote against

[2:10:15] this petition.

[2:10:17] >> Thank you, Marin. Are there any more

[2:10:19] comments?

[2:10:20] I just want to add one one thing and

[2:10:22] Erin kind of um touched on this but uh

[2:10:24] the aggregate rate is not the default

[2:10:27] rate for people who are in town on

[2:10:29] Eversource is the def it's you have to

[2:10:31] opt into it and then you can also opt

[2:10:32] out of it at any time and opt back in

[2:10:34] and opt back out and opt back in and so

[2:10:36] if Eversource does dip below the cost of

[2:10:38] the aggregate you can switch to

[2:10:40] Eversource and then it dips back up and

[2:10:41] you can switch back to the aggregate. Um

[2:10:43] so it does give that flexibility there.

[2:10:45] So, it's not um a pure straight you're

[2:10:48] locked in for some period of time and if

[2:10:49] it if if it ever sort of drops down

[2:10:50] below, you're losing money. Um you do

[2:10:52] have the ability to be able to switch

[2:10:54] back and forth between the two.

[2:10:58] » Mr. Sillin,

[2:11:01] >> I uh answer to the uh the handout. Um I

[2:11:06] don't know what towns are in the uh

[2:11:10] aggregate pool. I just took a map out

[2:11:13] and took the nearest towns to Sunderland

[2:11:15] and not all of them are in colonials uh

[2:11:18] operating uh you know bidding process.

[2:11:22] So I don't know what you know I've seen

[2:11:24] 15 towns, 12 towns, 16 towns. These are

[2:11:27] the towns that just are around us. And

[2:11:29] so what I said might not be true for all

[2:11:33] the towns in the uh the whatever we're

[2:11:37] aggregated with, but it is true for the nearest towns to us. um in terms of

[2:11:45] sort of the priorities or the philosophy

[2:11:47] that I think is appropriate for the

[2:11:50] situation where the town is um

[2:11:53] essentially managing uh a program for

[2:11:57] private citizens with their own money.

[2:12:00] Regardless of the result of a survey,

[2:12:02] you still have a number of people who uh

[2:12:07] don't want to have been opted up to a

[2:12:10] higher rate. So, somebody's got, you

[2:12:13] know, sets up and and and for years the

[2:12:16] town has defaulted to the lowest rate of

[2:12:18] those that were made available. Um,

[2:12:22] then when you change the next year and

[2:12:25] you say you want to opt it up to uh

[2:12:27] you're going to use a higher rate,

[2:12:28] you're going to use that more aggressive

[2:12:30] green rate, the people have to pay

[2:12:33] attention to this and and opt back down

[2:12:35] again. the the way it should work when

[2:12:38] you're spending private people's money

[2:12:40] is uh just like the public bidding

[2:12:43] process if it meets state requirements

[2:12:45] you take the lowest bid. So the idea

[2:12:49] should be in my opinion that if the town

[2:12:52] is going to have this program where

[2:12:54] people have been co-opted into it, take

[2:12:56] the lowest bid. And I think Aaron, you

[2:12:59] can have uh Aaron could have the other

[2:13:02] options be very aggressive, very green,

[2:13:05] and if he's right, people will op up to

[2:13:07] those uh to those options. People

[2:13:10] shouldn't be forced to opt down to uh uh

[2:13:15] to save money. That's all. If you want

[2:13:17] to spend money, it's an option to go up.

[2:13:20] You don't force people to have to opt

[2:13:22] down to save money. And a lot of people

[2:13:25] don't even know about the program. Um,

[2:13:29] and there's people who uh are very busy.

[2:13:33] You know, they're down they're getting

[2:13:34] down toward the finish line. They've

[2:13:36] only got a certain amount of money. They

[2:13:38] don't have time to follow what's going

[2:13:39] on uh with the energy program, but they

[2:13:42] got to pay the bills and they're trying

[2:13:44] to get to the finish line with having a

[2:13:46] little bit left. So, those are the

[2:13:48] people too think about. They're not even aware of a poll. Thank

[2:13:52] you very much.

[2:13:53] >> Thank you, Mr. Sing.

[2:13:56] >> Okay. So, one of the questions you

[2:13:58] you'll notice in the article, it says

[2:14:00] move that the vote and it talks about

[2:14:02] that this is a nonbinding

[2:14:06] resolution.

[2:14:09] It's nonbinding because although the

[2:14:12] town meeting is a legislative body, the

[2:14:15] legislative body makes re cannot tell

[2:14:18] the select board what to do, but it can

[2:14:22] make recommendations. So that's why it

[2:14:25] says nonbinding.

[2:14:30] All right.

[2:14:33] All those

[2:14:35] that are in favor

[2:14:37] of the citizens petition, please raise

[2:14:40] your green cards.

[2:14:47] All those opposed,

[2:14:49] raise your red cards.

[2:14:53] The moderator declares

[2:14:56] the no vote,

[2:14:59] carries the motion, so it's voted no.

[2:15:04] At this time, the town clerk the town

[2:15:06] clerk has some very important words of

[2:15:08] wisdom for us all.

[2:15:20] I move the meeting adjourned to meet at

[2:15:22] to the polling place in the community

[2:15:25] room at the Sunderland Public Library,

[2:15:27] 20 School Street in Sunderland on

[2:15:30] Saturday the 2nd day of May, 2026 from

[2:15:34] 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. to act on the

[2:15:36] following.

[2:15:38] The elected offices assessor one for

[2:15:41] three years, select board one for three

[2:15:42] years. Board of Health one for three

[2:15:44] years. Library trustee, three for three

[2:15:47] years. Moderator, one for one year.

[2:15:50] Planning board one for five years.

[2:15:53] Riverside Cemetery Trustee one for three

[2:15:55] years. Sunderland Elementary School

[2:15:58] Committee two for three years. And

[2:16:01] Frontier Regional School one for three

[2:16:03] years.

[2:16:05] Question one. Shall the town of

[2:16:07] Sunderland be allowed to assess an

[2:16:08] additional 800,000 in real estate and

[2:16:11] personal property taxes for the purpose

[2:16:14] of funding the operating budgets of the

[2:16:16] town and the public schools for the

[2:16:18] fiscal year beginning July 1st, 2026

[2:16:24] and upon closure of the polls to

[2:16:27] dissolve the meeting.

[2:16:29] >> So second.

[2:16:30] >> So that's a motion.

[2:16:32] >> Do we have it? Motion made

[2:16:34] >> second. I did

[2:16:35] >> and seconded.

[2:16:36] >> Thank you.

[2:16:37] >> Yep.

[2:16:37] >> Any further discussion about going home?

[2:16:42] >> Okay. All those that want to uh dissolve

[2:16:44] after the town election next Saturdays,

[2:16:47] raise your green cards. Opposed.

[2:16:52] You almost got that red card up, didn't

[2:16:53] you? Declare it unanimous. Thank you

[2:16:56] everyone. Thank you. Great discussion.

[2:16:58] Thank you so much everybody.

Sunderland Town Meeting - April 24, 2026

Transcript