[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.