you got it thank you hi hello everyone I'm G to call to order the town of Andover Board of Selectmen regular meeting for Wednesday January 13th at 701 our first order of business is the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice okay first item is public speak so I'm going to go through the list of people that are here and then if you have if I miss you please let me know we'll start with Kathy and Mike plazy I have nothing tonight do you have anything I don't have anything either no we're all set thank you all right you got it Linda fish all set all right Diane Grenier I'm all set as well thank you Dave ganian nothing for me thanks okay Wally Barton okay nothing Kathleen D roers I'm all set thank you all right Caitlyn Macintosh sorry I have a problem with unmute I don't really have anything to say just here on behalf of the Board of Ed thanks for everything you guys do all right thank you Louise Goodwin I'm good thank you Liz loet hi I'm all set too thank you Jerry CR whichever one you are I think I'm this one up here okay I'm all I'm here to in in order to support the Board of Education thank you Stephen King can you hear me yes yeah happy New Year everyone hoping to see some progress on the open position tonight and would like to board to consider
language to eliminate the issues with ties Poss possibly in the Charter natural language that you may introduce at a later date and that's about it thank you thank you Kimberly pan I'm all set thank you Valerie Bruno nothing at this point thank you all right Nick I believe is with well I'll just go Nick do you want to say [Music] anything no I think he's with with the video is that accurate Eric am I right okay Leanne Hutchinson yes can you hear me yes yes my computer screen is telling me that you can't okay I wanted to quickly reiterate two items that I had thanked the board for addressing last month that don't seem to have made it into the minutes one was what appeared to be the or purchase of materials that appeared to be addressing the acoustic in the community room and possibly also the senior center which I had
approached that subject in the past and the other item was treating the roads when we had a small amount of snow but was accompanied by quite a bit of ice and the town did treat the roads and I thank the board for doing that because if you just looked out your window it looked like just there wasn't much snow but it was deceptively icy that day and I just don't see it appearing in the minutes thank you okay Joanne Ebert I'm almost I'm all set thank you okay all right did I miss anyone okay item three additions and changes to the can okay go ahead I was wondering if we can move the executive session to closer to the end of the meeting because of all these people that are on here for other various things I don't feel like we should have a long executive session
first it should be closer to the end very good idea I'll make a motion that we add a second executive session at the end of our meeting we'll call it we'll call it 17A remove item 11h discuss and act upon setting town meeting date for those three items just point a record that would be G not h H is the budget discussion meeting dates see whether you want to schedule those for February since that's coming up okay well we must be dealing with two different agendas I'm dealing with the agenda that's posted on the website and I see it as 11h I do as well I do as well okay so Eric I'll sit there and I'll do this I'll sit there and go with what out there for the public and we'll call it 11h remove that that's meeting dates for Budget discussion that's no 11h is set meeting date for a solar project at AES B Bank line of credit and C fire department tax abatement and the reason I I want to do that is primarily because we don't have the ordinance for the dog field I did not get with the the the Town attorney on that before this meeting so I would I would it doesn't none of the issues there are are critical to sit there and get done this month so I'd like to push them off but okay is there anybody else Jeff I'd like the I'd like to add 11j yeah extension of probationary period for Comm Community Center Director we're talking about Personnel issues in executive session correct yeah but we still need to act on something
thing so do we want to add it to the end of executive session if you want to do it at 11j you can have at at 11j well do you want to is this do you want to deal with an executive session and then add it to the end of the meeting that's what I thought we were doing okay we can do that that's fine that's fine with me Scott do you have anything no and do you have anything else not this point so are we eliminating three the I mean the executive session at five and putting it just at the end no we're keeping the executive session at 5 to speak with the tax collector because she's on here and okay you know we're we're g to try to keep it very short with the executive session with just the tax collector and then we'll go after that after the meeting is we get to after public speak we'll have an executive session where we'll talk about the Personnel issues and the other issues that we have to address and we can make motions after that as well Jee I believe that's the case I just want to make sure that we can do that after executive Dennis I'll ask you this question as Town attorney
we can come out of executive session and conduct business correct he's probably having trouble with his mute all right I think you might have answered me no he didn't well that is correct yeah I mean I thought it was and I guess it is correct d roer's as an answer thank you Dennis so he said yes he texted me because he's having technical problems yeah Jeff I'm I'm pretty sure we can I just want I just want to make sure I thought we could yeah okay okay with the second executive just wanted to make sure that Dennis weighed in when he did okay that's good fine so I'm going to make a motion that we we add an additional executive session at 17A and we remove a new I new
business item 11h I got a second on that okay Jeff Murray seconded all those in favor I okay four nothing all right let's move on to our number four board and commission presentations Eric do we have any no no excellent so Eric we're going to move into executive session related to item a which is the tax collectors collection strategies so if you would Eric can you put everyone into the waiting room this I'm just telling the public we're going to try to make this as quick as possible so I apologize for having to do this so early but we are dealing with a town employee who has regulated ours okay so Eric do you have control I do I'm working on it no just
asking you the question oh do we want anyone else in this executive session should we invite the town attorney let's invite the town attorney do anybody have a problem with that oh okay we'll invite the town attorney and the Town Administrator and the town tax collector thank you for joining us so all of you that are left you'll be put into a waiting room you'll get silence for a while which will probably be beneficial to you and then we'll be back I'll be honest I can't see where it says put people in Waiting rooms one second let me see if I can do it participants unless you logged in as the town of band over also in which case you're going to have to do it because if you logged in second you bumped me as the as the host probably no but you couldn't have because I recorded yeah I I didn't pump you oh so there's the host tools where I don't see I can remove participants okay I got it I can do it you want to do a breakout session no he's got it now he started it okay all right thank you for everybody waiting your patience we're coming out of executive session which was 5A discussion related to tax collector and collection strategies I would like to make a motion that we authorize the tax collector to Institute a a tax sale for real estate properties that have unpaid taxes of three years or more and or greater than $10,000 I'll second that all right for the discussion on that topic all those in favor I okay so that was four nothing Eric on
that all right we're going to move on to item six appointments Commission on Aging we have a note in our packet what's one second it's that is Page four page four page four first my sincerest condolences to the O'Brien family and the passing of Georgia she was she was a neighbor on Lake Road she's very nice and you know sympathies for the family so the request is that the Commission on Aging would like to have test gross be appointed and have Kathy Bazi become an alternate member Tess is that accurate also there was also a request to make the current alternate who's Linda Armstrong a regular member right and I don't think Linda is here I do see Kathy plazy Kathy plazy is that accurate making Linda Armstrong a
regular member pointing test gross as a regular member and having you become an alternate yeah yes correct thank you so I'll make a motion that we Point Linda Armstrong on Jeff hang on oh I'm sorry I just heard a question to me I was at that meeting via phone I'm not sure who else well I can tell you who else was there but yes I was asked to come on board for the Commission on Aging I did accept I did not at that time there was no discussion on who was going to be an alternate and Linda Armstrong was going to be a on that board as well so I just want that to be a clarification if that goes into the minutes there was no at my time on during the meeting there was no alternate being discussed at that
time so I just want that to be heard okay so I'm going to make a recommendation that we appoint Linda Armstrong to a regular position Linda Armstrong and test gross to be regular members of the Commission on Aging and that we also appoint Kathy pazi as an alternate member thank you because Jeff I had asked that Tess being the new director assume my full-time position as senior coordinator on the Commission on Aging thank you okay okay so I made that motion does anybody want to second that second it so an KET seconded do we have further discussion on the Commission on Aging all those in favor I all right thank you very much everyone for volunteering for that okay item seven resignations we did receive a letter from Carol Lee announcing her retirement so I'm I'm hesitant to sit there and accept any resignations until I have an an opportunity to talk with Carol and I hope that acceptable to everybody because if you read the letter it is a a notice of retirement not of resigning her position which could also be taken in a different way so because of State changes to the pension program Carol Le is is having to retire which is very sad and everybody should sit there and thank Caroline next time you see her please thank her for everything that she does for this community [Music] this is something that we have to deal with from a Tom clerk perspective we will Carol just happens to be on vacation right now so it's a little bit difficult to sit there and come to a resolution so I would like
the entire public to know that Carol Lee has announced a retirement and then at our next meeting we'll talk about the Tom Clerk's position does anybody have any problem with that any other members well Jeff she's going the date was January 31st correct so by the time the next meeting she's going to be gone well there there's you know Jeff there's nothing we can do about her retirement I so there's two different components to this there's yes retirement and then there's the town clerk's position okay so let's just so so we're not dealing with the retirement we're just dealing with the she it's kind of like what we did with the chart last Charter revision somebody tells us they doing something it's done it's not like we have to approve it but in this case she did not write a letter of resignation from the town clerk's position she put in a notice of retirement so I just want to clarify it with Carol because you know you you Jeff you and I both know that we need to sit there and work with Carol in a transition period related to that position so I just want to understand exactly what works the best for Carol and for for the community and we'll implement it it's so there's nothing we can do right now we she's put in a
notice of retirement to to take advantage of the situation that's currently there related to the state in the State Pension Plan anybody got anything else they want to add to that so I think Dennis is trying to chime in Dennis i s you can we can that is wonderful yes for you and for me I think anyway you know the CH Charter change regarding not having to accept the resignation does not go into effect until July 1 2025 just so you know and I don't I don't understand how a retirement cannot is not a resignation but that's up to you to interpret that that's not I can't I can't say one way or another I don't have any answers to that and Jeff Murray points out that you know January 31st is her retirement date and that's going to be you know before your next regular meeting just just saying I'm just saying I'm not I'm not and if we have to have if we have a special meeting related to this we we'll need to have a special meeting related to this because it's a fairly important issue yes it is I I agree and I think that maybe it's an opportunity for you to say the things that you wanted to say to her tonight if she were here the nice things about what a great job she has done and I will Echo that myself because I've worked with her for a long time thank you all right thank you very much anybody have any other issues on this that they want to address okay I'm going to move on to item eight appointment of a new board
of Selectmen candidate Jeff I'm assuming that at the Republican Tom committee the Republican Town committee will be offering up a a new candidate yes the Republican Town committee will be meeting I believe it's next week or the week after and we have a posting in the paper notice in the paper till the end of this month okay so it would be it would be preemptive right now to select somebody before that window is when that window is expired for the notice and the town committee has not selected a nominated candidate okay I'm hoping that you get a great turnout I would hope you get a great turnout and a great number of candidates and we can sit there and get this behind us I am hoping so as well exactly
right all right so I would assume oh well I won't assume we're going to put this on our next meeting agenda Eric and hopefully get this done next month so February yep okay item eight town administrator report okay so I'm just going to talk about the things I'm just going to highlight a few things from the report I'm not going to go over the whole report because we have a long enough agenda first question for the board of Selectmen because I was asked by kog are any of the board of Selectmen memb is going to attend the vision zero workshop on January 30th 2025 I've sent you the information a couple times I will be traveling I can time that as a scheduled work day for me okay
Texas okay Scott I don't think so okay that's all I needed to know the second thing is I just want to publicly thank Rick Langley of Lenco electric he was generous enough to donate and install the automatic door opener for the community center so that is in in and functional that is one of the things that was identified by the senior advisory committee as a priority so I'm happy that we were able to accomplish that I would also hope that some of you saw the River East article that John chaponis was recognized with an award at the annual Connecticut Conference of municipalities as a municipal Champion for his efforts as the co-chair of the Connecticut Association of assessing officials so that they had a nice article in last week's River East so I wanted to share that with all of you and those are pretty much the updates unless somebody on the board has questions for me related to my report I would like to thank Rick Langley also for a generous donation I would like to sit there and I believe Leon Hutchinson had an issue related to the Acoustics in the buildings both buildings and I noticed in your report and also in the Department of Public Works report that the panels have been received and when
are those panels set to be installed I'm trying to work that out with Willie and Susan our custodians to install them hopefully sooner rather than later the priority is doing the community center and once that is done we'll do the community room community centers is an easier install so all right don't have an exact time frame for you okay any other questions for I have two questions for Eric do we have a schedule right right now for the destratification fan install with Linko we don't so it's it's a question of trying to sync his schedules and the school schedules okay because I would like to try to see if we can get that started at ASAP because I know we have some we have some spring you know absence you know the school will be out for some spring vacation and hopefully we can start fitting that work in there pretty sure we have a February vacation scheduled correct we get some of that work done it would be nice to coordinate with the school and see if we can get some of that work completed at that time yep one other question is I sent an email probably about a month ago about the chip ceiling on on Shad bull Lane and some of the other roads in town and how the recent storm events the the chip ceiling seems to be coming up and we seem to be have getting potholes in the road I would like to try to schedule something with Jay Tuttle and yourself and some of the board of Select members to discuss with the contractor the failure of that installation and and what we can do going forward to remedy that because we're going to get back into chip sealing season here
pretty soon and I'd like to make sure that we address that as soon as possible as far as I'm I'm concerned that was pretty substandard work and the town needs to recover some of that money for the the remediation of that work okay I also I I agree with Jeff and you know we both live in this area it feels like you're still walk driving on a gravel road and it's kicking up gravel still it just seems like it's a very poor combination of materials that were used Long Hill was done two years earlier and it's a lot better shape than our street that was just done so it definitely has a problem I mean all the board members saw my pictures that I sent we have potholes right in the middle of the road where the S where the surface has come up and you know if we
get more storm events and more freezing events that is all going to buckle and we're going to have more issues and I would like to get the contractor out there as soon as possible and show them what is going on with the roadway for sure CU that is it's substandard work and we need to get that fixed and the town should not be footing the bill for that no don't Eric what's the difference between that process and the process that was used let's say on Lake Road different contractor the contractor that did Lake Road was the same one that we had so many complaints with for it being Dusty the year before we switched back to comr just to eliminate the dust complaints because Co comr uses a more refined Stone than the previous contractor I mean Jeff if you want to any sport SEL I would encourage them to come and take a look because I mean the it's terrible I mean it is it is substandard work and we really need to address this with the contractor as soon as possible you can coordinate gravel well we're going to get some gravel some gravel will come up dur based in the first year of the chip ceiling but I mean we're missing we're missing sections of roadway that actually the plow actually pulled up that didn't adhere to the to the it was
it's mostly on Shadell Lane where the double chip was it didn't adhere properly so the roadway is actually coming up all right Eric if you can sit there and schedule that that would be great so that we can all attend okay and so you want it during the day I presume absolutely make it happen and I will be there yeah okay also Jeff Murray also sent us an email regarding the line at the three-way intersection or the intersection at the top of I think it's Long Hill or the you know connection of hendy and whatever what's the situation with that line Eric I think Jay's taking care of that I just to it just I think Jay Jay responded and I think he's going to try to paint over it again but we may have to grind that or get the paint off of the roadway because it's just going to keep coming up okay and we can't paint over it we well we are painting over it but at night it's it's highly visible when you come around the corner it looks like there's a stop line there it's it's it's shows up playing his day just like all the other stop lines we have in town okay all right any other questions
yes I have another question the other day I was trying to call the Community Senior Center and I couldn't get through I tried calling and calling Town Hall they tried to they gave me a number that number was not in service I found the senior newsletter or the community center newsletter I tried that number I got test her personal I know personal cell phone or what but she wasn't at the center I was trying to find the number for the center and I think finally somebody forwarded my call to the center but it's hard to know how to get a hold of anybody at the center I do know this that's interesting I do know that we were installing a new VoIP system there Eric when did that get done I don't know a month ago three weeks ago something like that so I know I've had problems with my system every once in a while because of how it's done but Tess if you can sit there and please look at that and let's test that out tomorrow morning yeah go ahead test yeah I'm happy to answer that Ann I thank you I do think that there is a a problem in there somewhere I do have a cell phone through the town and that's the 798 number and people can reach me on that I was away on Monday at a funeral out of state so the we did
have the assistant in the office as well so whatever that if you call the seven 42735 in the extension you should be able to reach me other than that I think it might be something technical yeah the extension it was a four-digit extension and as soon as I hit the first number I would get some other office in town hall yeah unforunately I I wouldn't be able to have any control over that but I do think that it sounds like if we can if we can test that tomorrow test that would be great right I I am receiving messages I receive them all day today and messages do go to my voicemail so not sure what's going on but yeah definitely look into that all right thank you anyone else for Eric okay we're gonna move on to item 10 old business discussion and act upon the following Community Center signage discussion that actually has to get done so that's on me again I will sit there and get with the gentleman who did the sign on Route Six he actually did a very nice job and we will sit there and try to get him to sit there and give us something that can go up on the wall 10B the blight and level of involvement we have a set of items starting in page 11 in the packet about all the blight violations and
statuses Scott you have any issues Jeff you have any issues related to that just the Long Hill property which one is that the one with the roof yeah the one with the roof gone it's been open and has debris all over the place and it's not been addressed for months has has he come for permit Eric I don't know it actually says where work with new owner to to permit new replacement that's why I'm asking because the last time I talked to the building official they did not have they did not have permits for for the Reconstruction and application and there is there there's debris everywhere up there it needs to be all cleaned up and put in a dumpster there's piles of debris it's it's an iore and and if I was the neighbor I would be upset okay so you're making a bik complaint about that property okay well and the the it must that information must not be accurate if that says that he's applied for permits and hasn't and you haven't heard anything well I'm not in the building office I know I know you're not I know you're you know I know if you tell me ahead of time you want me to look into it before the meeting I certainly can okay so I just drive by it every day and I see no activity whatsoever going on on that property it's been going on probably six months
now all right so Eric just get with the building official and see what's up with 243 that would be great and we can you can send us out an email so that we have this dealt with before the next meeting okay anything else related to blight and level of involvement okay item C is operating software for the community and Senior Center Eric I know there was nothing else in here I know we had the gentleman the last time do you have the the costs related to that software it was $4,000 if I remember correctly ,800 the first year and $1,700 annual fee thereof okay and then I know that you said that Colombia was using the software if I remember correctly that accurate correct all right and Jeff Murray did you have a an opportunity to look at Colombia and their usage of it at all just just briefly but I noticed other towns such as Hein which is much larger than us does not use any software centry does not use any software either does Bolton okay and I I think right now the level of programs we have right now this is my personal opinion that we're probably putting the cart before the horse right now I think what we have for the level of activities we could probably handle it with either phone calls or paper sign up sheets okay anybody else one second Tess I'll get to you anybody I agree with Jeff as far as getting the software I think it's
premature to get software when we have so few programs going at this point okay Tess you're yeah thank you I I do just want to let you know that Columbia beckish Community also centry does have the program my senior center as well Ellington does there's quite a few that are around that do have that same program that information was sent to Jeff I believe that was you quite a few months ago but definitely I can send that over to you again if needed just want to let you know that before there wasn't any real paperwork that was out there and in an office setting and so now we're going
to we're resorting to using a whole lot of paper and which is fine by me I can do that but I think it would be much more cost effective in the end using a software system if the board decides not to use that Software System absolutely but that's going to be time consuming writing those things out and doing things a lot more on paper which would especially with grant writing and Grant reporting and so I can definitely do that but definitely the hours that are spent at the community center are extended because of the lack of a software system so that's all I that's all I want to say okay [Music] and by all by by all means if any of the board of Selectmen have any questions they know how to reach me they can come to the Senior Center and I'm there from any time between 9 and two Monday through Friday if anybody has any questions they want to see what's going on by all means I would definitely receive them as they come in okay I'm a I'm a big believer in software and attempting to sit there and make things more efficient but test basic on where we're currently at and Eric where we're currently at even if Scott voted with me we're going to end up 22 so we're gonna go to paper well I just want to comment that Jeff Ellington and centry are much larger towns than ours and right now I mean with the amount of programs that we have there's no reason we can't monitor it right now and if it does grow to a point where we do need we do feel a need
and seniors embrace it like right now I I don't think a lot of seniors will actually use the app in this on their phones I think a lot of them are still in the modes where they want to fill out paperwork or they want to come to the community center and sign up so that's my personal feeling right now and and and Jee I understand I listen I I loaded a couple apps on my father-in-law's phone yesterday I understand the hesitation for seniors to try to sit there use technology I honestly think that you know you're just the data that you know we need to sit there and understand who is using that Center in total like because what we're what we're having right now is is a lack of info and if software could help us I'm all for it now is it is it more expensive than I would like to pay yes and and can we do it without it yes but we have to give Tess some some data points that we're expecting to receive on a on a on a monthly basis so that we can understand what we need to do to to make participation within that building Greater and while I judge up to the be devil's advocate here it's the it's the senior centor director's position to roll that data up and present it to us right oh no no no I I don't I'm not saying that but if you ask me I I would rather her sit there and potentially take her time engaging with the seniors and doing things with them rather than sitting there paperwork you know doing the the actual documents because you know there is a lot of
Graphics arts and stuff that has to get done but listen yeah correct but we do have we do have an we do have an assistant too right correct this is all we do have an assistant we do have an assistant and and maybe we could put this off for three months four months someone revisit it no no no but wait wait wait wait we have to get the data anyway so we're not gonna sit there and get the software that's that right now and we can put it off my thought Jeff is always that if we have these these systems and we can use them then the data and the information can be provided by the system and then the people that are working in the department can actually engage with the residents that that's my thought and I agree with and I agreee 100% with you but if we start offering guitar lessons piano lessons singing lessons crafting all that stuff then put in the report and if we have a justification down the road to for the software then then we have it but right now I just don't see it to be honest with you and and and that's okay and we're be okay to to sit there and and disagree related to it it's it's fine the the the thing is that test
you're going we're going to have to get some data as to the activity level at the senior center because we as a community just need to to be more engaged and as a board more engaged in what is going on in that building so that we get as much we give as much we we built a nice building we need to make sure that it's used as much as possible and the software is not going to stop us from being engaged and being nice people but it would be a a helpful tool and we'll get back to it sooner than later yeah right I guess I would like to see maybe like I say three months I'm not really sure what the software is going to be doing to help maybe I missed it with the I don't understand it why don't we
sit there at some point in time and you get into the office with Tess and and and she can give you a little demo and that would be help okay you know before we talk about it the next time all right okay okay Tess thank you very much appreciate you coming to the to the meeting and participating there so now we also have item 10 D the burnap clock discussion I I mean listen this clock this clock as far as I'm concerned if it can go into the community center at the Town Hall what when we approve that room for strictly in-person meetings I think it's the best fit for the community if you're going to put it over into the that small room in the community center I think I look at it just like Jeff Murray looked at the piano that he wanted to roll they they that we wanted to take a donation on and that where we put it so we're we're taking that clock I think it's got to go per my personal opinion and what I'll vote for is if we put it into the town community room and we make that a focal point of in-person meetings and as Eric put in his report and he didn't bring up but it was a discussion about outfitting that room for in-person
meetings I think that's where I would want that clock anybody else so you're saying not in the community center but back in town hall back into the community room and that community room be identified strictly as a room for Town meetings Okay I'm okay with it either place what I'm thinking is that for since October I've been asking for Dennis to get together with or by phone or however with the clock owner to draw up a contract between the town and that and I wrote him on October 15th November 6th and December 12th and he still has not contacted the owner and I got another letter from Jeff Balor today and he went as far as trying to get another attorney to drop the contract and he talked to somebody who says his Law Firm normally represents the town of tand and he said well we should be going to our own town attorney and not some somebody who's in another town so I'm coming back again to ask Dennis to contact the owner to set up the well is this is this bo something can I say something hold on for a second my understanding is I work for the board of Selectmen and the I I I
I'm not I don't function that way I I'm supposed to there's been no decision made as to whether or not to put it here or there I could draft a contract very easily I've done them for so Dennis Dennis Dennis can you allow me to ask if we can get a resolution on the location if we get a resolution we get a resolution on the location then we can ask you to potentially draft contract how's that I'm ready but I we cannot if we cannot come to a resolution on where this clock should go and we we we don't have a place for it there's no reason to sit there and waste one second of time drafting a contract that will never go into place so yeah I give me one second Dennis okay all right board members do you guys do you want it let's let's vote if we want it in if we want it in the community center then we'll put if this board will vote three people to put it in that for the Comm new community center yeah okay Community Center or community room because you've talked about both our new building new building okay so make a motion for it and let's go make a motion Scott that you put it in my motion to put clock in the new community building okay and well I'm not sure which room we're putting it in but I want it over there I think it's a lot safer over there than it is at the the Old Town Hall okay I I'll I'll second this to have discussion I don't think it's safer over there because that building is going to be rented for events so you're
going to have that clock in a room that what are you going to do lock that room while people are having parties in it but that clock a $40,000 clock is going to be in that small room in that building so what there's Camas in that room there's cameras in that building things have happened in the town hall that we never knew what happened people steal things it's not it's not safe over there kids have done stuff in the bathrooms in there correct and and I don't I disagree with you Scott but we've had that room as an open as an open room I think we should take that room in the town hall and convert it to an in to
an in-person meeting room equip it properly have the chairs set up there permanently when we have meetings that are in person that's where we have them we actually do it correctly that that's what I would do in that room Scott I would I would eliminate the usage of that room for any other purpose but in to inperson meetings I age that would be I agree with you Jee Maguire and I think we put the clock up high enough that we keep it away from getting people's hands on it and getting damaged yeah I would say if we had a de or we had something make it listen that clock belongs in a museum it does not it belongs in a museum it's it's it's a very nice piece of history for our community right have no problem putting it someplace but where we're putting it is we have to understand what we're doing with it I mean and where it's going to go and then whose responsibility is on a day-to-day basis there's a lot of other things with that clock than than just putting it into a Corner Room in the community center which Scout my mind with that Community Center and you and I have talked about this that Community Center needs to be used all the time it needs to be used as much as it possibly can be used so and a lot of people could see it there and it's open for a lot of damage too as well damage too yeah so and then and then if it does get damaged Who who how are we going to find out how it was damaged and by who if it's in the
community room it's going to be limited to a certain amount of meetings and everything and I highly doubt it's gonna the probability for damage is going to be a lot less in the community room that's if we limit the community room access just for meetings correct that's for me yeah so for Town businesses and function Town business and functions but so that was discussion anybody else have anything else okay so I'll vote for putting it in the town hall I have no problem with that either I'm kind of pushing you guys in the corner so you make a decision tonight now we now you guys want to build it up and put it in the corner and build it up so what are you gonna do about that now no no no we we have to sit there and have a vote on that too I'll vot I'll vote for that if that's what you want but you got to make a decision how you're going to put it in there and there's going to be a camera on it or something because it is a museum piece it's a museum piece I mean this goes into and I don't know where Eric put it it was in the in the
the packet about outfitting that room like I mean basically you should have a de you should have a an area where people sit there and and sit during meetings and there's Chairs set up and then behind that I would put the clock you know put it put it on the wall right behind the meeting so the people on camera see it and you know can you put it on a pedestal or you mount it to the wall or what how you how would you do that well you have to mounted to the wall but it's about six six and a half feet tall you know it's a grandfather clock Big Clock not a wall clock and there's some kind of protection around it are we gonna there's no protection it's Grand on the clock protection yeah I mean so are are we are we willing to vote
right now on on converting the town hall community room into a permanent meeting space I think it should be I think we've been lacking that for a long time we should for official meetings we need a space for in-person meetings so motion on the floor already yeah we know we're understanding we're discussing so thank you for participating I mean I'd like to amend it to make sure that we put adequate protections for damage you know if we have to put some kind of a guardrail around it or something to protect it then that's fine we'll have to do it Ballard all right so let's let's plexiglass railings or something oh that'll be perfect that'll look great let's let's have let's vote on Scott's motion so the motion was to put the the clock in the new Community Center Senior Center Community can I change that now now that we've decided to vote it okay you want to pull it off all right pull it off we'll pull it off We're Not Gonna vote on it so that motion was rescinded Eric and why don't you make a motion to do it in the town hall I I make a motion to put the burnap clock in the community room of the to town hall I'll second that okay further discussion can I make a motion that goes before this one we vote on it you know we probably can it's probably against Roberts but again we need to make yeah let's do it after Jeff it doesn't make a difference Do It all those in favor I I all right I make a motion that we convert the town hall
community room to a permanent meeting space for in-person meetings and incorporate the burnap brook clock in to whatever design that we do for the space second I'll second okay all those in favor hang on discussion discussion go discussion we want do we want to put a h threshold cross threshold and because we will probably have to buy some material and Furniture to do this so we can't just make the motion and just make it open-ended we need to put a cost threshold on it that's true that would be great open-ended Jeff we make it look nice so I did meet with Bata Friday we went over some potential options for that she has a designer in mind somebody that she's worked with in the past professionally I will try to get back to the board with a proposal
and options on what converting that would look like okay I do need some kind of idea of what you're envisioning a budget for that being so why don't we sit there and that's our vision that we do it and next month because nothing's going to happen before next next month next month we approve the amount of money to spend on we can table this till next month and then just make that motion then once we the cost estimates okay Eric can you get that done I will try to get you some proposals for next month okay some reasonable monetary costs related to that that room what do you define as reasonable come on bring it to us and we'll tell you if it's reasonable or not do it for a dollar come on to find used furniture like New York City find a low cost a mid cost the high cost so we have some choice and see what possibilities there are maybe maybe Willam antic and and Windam have are getting rid of their old meeting furniture and we can we can get Mr O'Brien to help us with that the Yukon Co-op might be getting rid of some furniture too who knows I think the clock would go well in the Windom Town Hall you know it's a big place and old sure would you got to have security there too you're gonna have to make it secure it's $40,000 clock well we're going to lock the room and it's not up so any we'll deal we'll deal with all
that we'll get with Eric on on the things that we need to to make that all work okay good all right item 10e solar at a I don't necessarily know there's any discussion that needs to be had on this is there well sure go ahead yeah I it goes with this idea of putting it into the town meeting really the the solar is the the school and the school is the one who's going to be working on that and it doesn't the town doesn't need to be involved with the town meeting for that it's simply the school's Authority on that and I don't think it should have to be the town meeting you've been sent a number of things information from Valerie and
so you you think the solar project an has is is is having an impact on the education of the children is it is it a is it an educational issue the solar project not it's not a curriculum but it provides the electricity or a lot of it that provides the air conditioning to make it comfortable and the lights so they can see what they're doing you know it's a part of the school and the school the Board of Education and the and the superintendent have control of the building and I've said this to everybody else I'll say it to you if we can't work together on this this issue then you may as well forget working on anything so I'd like to ask you a question I'd like to ask you a question why did you vote against the 824 at your Planning and Zoning meeting only because it was not necessary not necessary okay so the project that why school project comes in front of a school it's a it's a building project that comes in front of planning and zoning and you're on Planning and Zoning representing the town you don't vote for it because it's under the jurisdiction of the Board of Education correct and who we had no come on come on come on let's stop who do you work for you work for the town of Andover or where the the the the faction on the board of education that does not want to work with us at all the board of education has control
of the school building and we should not be uring usurping what the Board of Education should be working on okay okay Jeff just just let me I'm I'm all for the solar stuff for the solar project but what I'm concerned is and you know we've had a couple emails from some citizens saying this and this is absolutely true a lot of solar companies will promise you the moon they're going to say you're going to save all this money but you know what that is best case scenario that's like cloud-free days that's 100% efficiency I would be 100% behind this if we had an independent consultant you know pay them it's it's Li it's a small amount of money have a consultant look at it and look at the plan look at the equipment and say yes this program is valid and you're going to expect it to save this amount of money and that nobody's talked about that because we're just going off of what the company is telling us we're going to save and I would just like to
know and if I'm going to vote for this or support this in any way make sure 100% that what they're promising us is valid and and and Jeff I I I agree with you I'm all for the solar project I am all for putting this on on the roof it's it's it's a it's a project that I personally will support right also too but I just want to make sure that the numbers are correct no understood and my issue my issue is number one the entire contract has not been shared with us we've seen an addendum we've seen a penalty language within the addendum and the and the issue is
you know listen we're a small town you know we we pretend to be a small town we have a lot of residents we have a a town meeting form of government that has not changed and it's not that there's any money required related to this project but there is the potential for penalties and I personally am not willing to not sit there and have it move forward with those penalties without the town stepping up and saying okay no problem right the penalties probably won't happen I'll understand that I I get it but they're still there but that's the only part of the contract we've seen so there's a lot of I'm concern I'm more concern about the efficiencies and if we do have to and let's just say we do have to repair a section of the roof what are the cost implications of that right I just want to I want to get all that stuff out in the open so we can discuss it and maybe we have that meeting with the school board and the superintendent and we we discuss these these issues that we have
and we get all this stuff open maybe maybe we have them send us the contract or we we discuss the contract we have a meeting and discuss it well you know it it's just let's just get get past this because it's got to we do need to get past it but I want to make sure what we're doing is the right thing to be honest with you understood understood and and you can request we can request that from the Board of Education and sit there and hopefully that that gets provided to us so that we understand what the risks are and what our payout should be and there there also there also was supposed to be a report done around Christmas on the condition of the roof correct and and all those things I know we haven't I haven't seen so I just sit there and I look at it in a very simple way that we're if we can't work on this project together then you know it's it's you may as well forget working on anything else so well Jeff I think it's a win-win I just think we all need to get together and get on the same page that's all I agree problem this town feels like the town can do things with the school building most towns are big enough that they have more than one school and they know where the board of aded is doing something and the town doesn't have anything to do with it where here the board of Selectmen and the town think that they can tell the Board of Ed what to do which isn't true in most
owns all right that's good so now we all understand where we're coming from I'm going to move on to item agenda number 11 new business and discuss an act upon the following the Hop and Hodge event permit pending CT approval Eric I know that's in the package have you got any feedback on that or or Jeff do you have any feedback related to that application no I have no feedback but I can personally attest to Ken Platt and his professionalism running events and running events for the town in the past and how he's been generous to the town with the proceeds of some of his events okay the last event I think he had I think he donated enough money for a picnic table on at the intersection there the contact person on this is Janet Romo I'm just making sure it's the same one it's the same organization it should be plat systems I believe that puts it that that's actually the timing service he's the race coordinator or the race director the name of the or organization is hoop and Hodges 5K out of East Hartford well Eric they they put this out way early so I appreciate that you know this is not a situation where we have these this coming back to us this permit coming back to us couple
weeks beforehand so I don't really have a problem I like having those events in town yeah he's been doing it every year so I I think we could probably approve it pending s approval okay he can ker somebody want to make a motion on that one I motion I reprove The Hop and Hodges race what date was that April 20th on April 20th pending sir approval for the vent that SC seconded that all right further discussion all right all those in favor I four nothing okay 11b a proc a proclamation for the new faux house open in Andover Plaza Eric was this [Music] was this related to the I just want to know who was doing the welcoming is this the Chamber of Commerce or our Economic Development so if you look at the last signatory on it is the chair of the EDC but I just thought since we had a new business in town and we only get one of those very occasionally that we have a proclamation ready to go it would be great if all the board of selectman members would come in and sign it it's sitting up on K desk awaiting signature and we present it to them when they finally get around to having a formal open house with the Chamber of Commerce okay all right I think that's excellent I have no problem I'll make a motion that we authorize the signing of
the town of Andover Proclamation welc welcoming F faux house to the Andover Plaza so a further discussion on that all those in favor I Eric will get in there and sign that as soon as possible okay and I would note that that comes with a 50% increase in the number of food vendors in this one year in the in our town so now we have three kind of options for food in Little Old Land over okay 11c fire department requests for self-contained breathing apparatus yeah so the next two items are relative to CIP and they were requests by the fire commission so CIP just want to give you a heads up on this one Wall-E is sitting here with me so Wally can give you a better description of exactly what they're asking for this is a pretty large Capital request so so I wanted you as a board to be aware that this is coming down the pike so Wally is sitting here right right with me if you have questions for him I'm sure he can answer as to what exactly they're looking for and what the rationale is Wally thank you for attending can I ask a question though what is the the budget cycle that this is going into are we going to go into this budget cycle that's open or next budget cycle this would be this year years budget or 25 26 budget year as a capital
expenditure okay so July one okay so July one so we'd be putting it up for Town vote on the on this budget cycle so okay so I I read the information you obviously have 18 units that are probably 20 almost 20 years old and you're looking to replace them with 20 units so you actually have two extra it's 16 and four is what it comes out to Jeff two spare and two for training purposes because when our firefighters go for certification for firefighter one they need to bring air packs with them and right now we're pulling air packs off the truck for them to take to school with this proposal we have spares for when they go out for service or if people need them to go to school so we're increasing the actual number number from 16 to 20 air packs all right and Wally the the number that I saw in the package was approximately $200,000 request so it's $20,000 a unit or I'm sorry ,000,000 a piece plus the straps for the masks at 441 or 40 St sets of straps o 441 time 40 and 10,000 * 20 okay I'm sorry yeah so it's 221 992 total
package okay there's no partial doing it 10 one year to and the other no it's it's it's a swap out you don't want in time of emergency somebody having to think am I putting on this type of an air pack or that type of an air pack so it's a total change out we want to do it all at once okay all right so that has already gone past CIP Eric I'm assuming that that will be in the budget that's presented to the board of Selectmen before we move it on it is going back to CIP at the next meeting they had a request for some additional information which I believe Wally will be able to provide them so you should have a response back for this certainly for this budget cycle it sounds to me like CIP is going to accept this and then the question just becomes how we go about paying for
this because remember we're going to have the new fire truck and the payments on the new fire truck also so we are this will drain these two items together will be a significant drain on the Permanent Fund established for the fire department okay so if you can provide us that information because we obviously have to weigh this in in relation to any other spending that we need to do so understood obviously we need to get this done and it's just a question so Wally if we actually push this a year you could still use the current apparatus that you have it's just that you're having problems repairing them and
getting parts is what I read the age of them and they're starting to nickel and dyam to speak of something breaks down it's a few hundred dollars to ship it out have it repaired bring it back and these costs are adding up and because of the age we think about the reliability as well okay all right we we will sit there and definitely if you get that other information to CIP we'll sit there and put it into consideration on what we're doing for the next fiscal year thank you anybody else have any other questions for Wally okay now we moving on to item sorry so and the total amount just so everybody's aware the total amount if my math is right with Wally is $2 17,640 221 992 is what I have two 204 34640 for the air packs 17,0 64560 for the straps okay so it wasn't exactly $10,000 for the apparatus it was a little bit more all right okay let's move on to 11d the fire department request and CIP approval for cabinet and counter top R placement in the fire department so CIP also had a request from the fire department for replacement of the cabinets and the countertops in both the kitchen area and then and also in the officer's work station area of the fire department so they provided CIP one estimate for both CIP agreed that took a to of the fire department decided they felt it was a appropriate expense based on the condition of what they have and they asked the fire department to go and provide a minimum of three respons bids on it prior to approving it so why I put this on your agenda now because we don't
have the three quotes is that we do have the capability and this would probably be an appropriate expenditure for the building maintenance fund because it is a maintenance item so I guess my question is if we do it as a building maintenance item we don't NE necessarily have to wait for next year's budget we have the money in the building maintenance fund to accomplish this so if we get quotes back and the reason I'm asking is that I think for a lot of contractors you know if we're getting bids now and it's for a project we're likely to do as soon as we make a decision that's going to end up being a somewhat different cost basis than if we get information now for something that we may or may not approve next July so my question is am I authorized to spend this out of building maintenance fund as something approved by CIP once the quotes are in place come back with the quotes and we'll come back I mean the answer's yes if you're asking me I would vote to sit there and
take it out of building maintenance but you don't even have any range of numbers you're asking for we have a ballpark of approximately 16,000 and we are expecting to get back to more quotes St so we know it's somewhere in that ballpark at this point okay so the anticipation Wally is less than $20,000 correct okay and what's in the F what's remaining in that fund Eric currently there is roughly $100,000 in that fund of which some money is spoken for for the installation of the destratification fans and there's one checkout set standing to mg masonary so at at the next meeting when we start talking about Capital planning we can start talking about what we have earmarked out of that fund for various different things but at this point we have the funding for this project project if the board wants to authorize it now as opposed to waiting to July okay I mean I'll sit there and make a motion that we authorize the use of up to $20,000 for the fire department request for cabinets and countertop replacement I'll second that Jeff all right further discussion on that item anybody Jeff and I think it was just countertops is that right Wall-E it's cabinets and countertops cabinets too okay we were just looking at the counters mostly but yeah and this includes installation cost as well or just material that was a total installation Y and it was in two locations right Wally the countertop in the watch room in the front of the building and the kitchen is where all the cabinets and the rest of the counters would be installed so there are two locations yes okay yeah I'm just trying to get my head around how many
counter counter how much linear feet of countertop we have how many cabinets we have and if that's a justifiable number that's all I'm just trying to I don't know I don't have all of those figures Jeff to be honest we will have the three quotes and can be looked at and again you want to come to the firehouse and look at it glad to show it to you what we have yeah I'd be interested in taking a look at the scope of the project and actually seeing what we're going to replace and then actually I I I just I get a little nervous voting on quote on things that I haven't seen quotes for yet so I would like to see what the final numbers are I have no problem with that jef like sitting there waiting till next month until you have I mean we're not going to be able to execute anyways because we don't even any estimates to issue POS on
anyway so all right so as as an act of good faith Wally that the board of selectman is willing to support that if you bring back reasonable quotes that's what's coming and I I would like to see just for myself what I'm voting on like what we're actually physically replacing if I remember correctly Wally they're like tan laminate countertops yeah they're bright bright red red cabinets and everything is original to theill building back to 1989 and when you go into the watch room you can actually see the damage on the countertop why that has to be replaced the cabinets don't want to close anymore
we've got issues in the kitchen and again for your own home if you're got stuff that's that old you know what starting to show it's wear and tear okay understood I just want to make sure we have enough money to cover the replacement that needs to happen that's all so Eric if you can put that on the next agenda and if anyone wants to get together with Wall-E and go through the fire department that would be great y okay W how's your how's your little dog doing is it okay your dog didn't scare him too bad yet I have to tell you guys a story we walk by Wally's house every day getting on to Lakeside and Wally's little dog I mean it must be this big I got a 100 pound dog Wally's dog might be 10 PB and that dog started coming down the driveway dragging a cinder block to get down to see us Carol had to come down and save them from getting in the road it was it was wonderful anyway Little Town Andover there we go W thank you very much you appreciate it thank you w for all that you do 11 11e additional sign on Route 6 I know we just had the fa thing related to Lane boot cart but we really need to probably thank Elaine for all the work she did to try to get that put in place and now I'm going to make a recommendation that we get a second sign in place and have it face in the opposite direction or have the sign company come back and give us a recommendation of what may potentially be able to get done so that sign
looks really nice I think it looks great I think it needs Kathy de roer had reached out to Eric and to myself about the beautification committee doing some work around that it's something that we need to look at putting into next year's budget but so we gonna do enf together yeah we can do enf together so it's the I mean after seeing how the sign looks and where it's at I just think we need to put a sign that go faces in the opposite direction Something That faces in the opposite direction in the same spot don't go down the other end of Andover or the other the Columbia end of Andover the Coventry end of Andover and put a sign that has people well just it's the our our our main focus is the
Old Town Hall and the bridge and across the street that welcome tan and the Veterans Memorial those three components really make a nice and that's what we have and that sign across the street on that Hill looks very nice Elaine did a great job he did it only took 10 years to get money appropriated for that did take her 10 years we already put the second sign in this year's budget and it we did the of took it out so so so where where the the the the recommend this is going to go into next year's budget my recommendation is that we try to put another sign in there and then we give we determine how to either raise money or give enough money to the beautification committee so that they can do something to make the landscaping around it look like it belongs there and that it it it really calls out the sign properly other than just having it sit on the side of a hill so the beautification committee is willing to do that work we just have to be willing to try to fund it yeah right we're okay we're willing so so and over beautification we are going to apply for a grant in total we're hoping for the whole project and that will be for the the welcome sign that's presently there at this point of course won't include the next sign but I did speak with Elaine we are looking at having art who made that sign build a placard on the other side of it so it's not two signs there but one sign and more to come on that so basically I just want to make sure that
the board of Selectmen I don't know if you have to make a motion but move that the Andover beautification can move forward with the I'm going to say the garden and what needs to be around it so that I can apply for a grant and we go from there thank you all right well if that's the case I'll make a motion that we authorize the Andover beautification committee to undertake or and initiate a project to beautify the area near the sign and provide us back with the financial needs that would be required and to also be able to apply for a grant seconded a second Jeff seconded M so any further discussion all those in favor I okay just to add should we talk je just to add to that I would like you know it it is the town center but I think the library and the church are part of that town center and it it would be great if we could put something like right where
the the the connectivity grant that Eric put together somewhere on that hill or at shotty Mill in Route 6 you know a duplicate sign because I think we should probably include all of that but that's just my personal opinion but you know that's Town Town Center includes I I think it would include the library and the church as well understood okay so when they EDC originally briefed this for for their original goal was a welcome to Andover sign one located on the corner of Route Six in shoty Mill fairly near where the old pound was facing Route Six as you come into town from centry I guess in that direction and then the the other one where it is now that was their original concept actually their original concept was three one big one in the center town and then two of the ones they made right there one there and one at shotty mil that was what their original proposal was and if we were really smart if we could took the backside of that sign and make it if we could put electronic sign or something we could put community events on it that would even be a win-win you know people going to the transfer station could see it that seems to be a high visibility point for Community messaging so well hopefully Elaine can get the second sign up a lot faster than she got the first sign up and maybe we can support her and get the board of Finance to also support it so okay did we vote we voted on the
authorization to allow Kathy to get the Grant and to to give us the numbers correct I didn't miss that did we vote Yes or you got it correct yes yes you voted all right for nothing okay [Music] 11g we're just going to move on from this Dennis we have to sit there and make sure that we have the ordinance prohibiting dogs on the athletic field I'll be happy to do that just let me know exactly what you want okay you and Eric can I go back one did we if we're asking art for a second sign are we going with your idea Jeff of having it collocated with the initial sign or are we going with the other idea of having it located at shotty mil because he's going to want to know where it's going in as part of this well if the group thinks it's it would be better at shotty Mill and put it at shotty Mill I just think that it really you know whatever I mean he can sit there and evaluate it and
tell us what it would cost because maybe he can turn that sign that's in the center of town and put a facing on the opposite side of that sign and it won't cost that much money but it probably will so it's probably going to go on shotty Mill but let Elaine do it Elaine did a lot of the work she has the the vision for it the place that Jeff Murray wants it that's fine I have no problem there's electricity at the first sign in case they which they have they're going to be a lighting sign so so we can do some low I mean even at the other place you can have low voltage solar that you can do on that other sign on shotty Mill but let a lane sit there and take the first crack on it just my opinion is that we need another sign and and if the beautification committee is going to make it look pretty I'm all for it me too and Jeff if we really had our way I would sit there and take the the rail trail wall that runs by the library and all the way down that's about 400 feet of concrete wall and we should have a mural done on that to that would be great to be positive toward endover sobody can run their card on the whole side of it it would have to be really good I just like that I just like that shotty Mill vocation it's high visibility it's
like the look the traffic is pretty slow to that area during rush hours so it and it encompasses that whole area that we you know we kind of want to try to highlight anyway so Jeff can I say one more thing yeah it's about the sign because I spoke with Elaine she's gone on vacation she has are already quoting the second sign that could go on shotty Mill and a placard to go on the back of the first sign so there will be two quotes forthcoming for you to preview okay perfect we'll we'll get to this next meeting and hopefully we can get this done quickly all right we're going to move on item H was deleted we're GNA go on
to 11i meeting dates for Budget discussion Eric what's your recommendation what would you like us to do what's your timing so my goal is to have you a preliminary budget right around February 1st so my question for you is do you guys want to begin budget meetings because you've kind of gone back and forth between whether you want to do them strictly combined with border of Finance whether you want to crack at it beforehand or what you want from me prior to prior to the budget officially be turned over to the board of Finance well I would sit there and and say I would like to sit there and see the budget with the board of selectman before it goes to the board of Finance I don't necessarily know that we have to you know I would like you to sit there and at least have two one to review what you want to do and then one for you to revise your numbers related to the priorities that we believe are out there so and then it can go to the board of finance and they can sit there and and do their due diligence on what we're requested in that would be my I would basically tell the board of selectman we would have two meetings one to review Eric's initial budget and and to sit there and tell him what
priorities that we think he needs to make and then have him go back and make the revisions and then present to us one more time and then present it over to the board of Finance anybody have any thoughts on that I agree I think we need to turn more of the responsibility over to the board of Finance U maybe one meeting meeting with Eric just to review his budget and just basically a general memo to the board of Finance basically what are wishes or what we think the direction of the town and the budgetary direction should be heading but I think it's a lot of to ask of Eric to sit
through meeting after meeting with us and then go sit through meetings with the board of Finance so if we can kind of streamline that process and make it as painless as possible I I you know we do have a board of Finance we have a lot of SM people on that board and I think we need to let them take over that responsibility a little bit more and I think we should get a walk away from it a little bit and just kind of send a basic message of Direction instead of just basically trying to put together a budget understood well Eric already has the budget put together because he's doing it related to that so I agree with your your memo and your you know what we're trying to get accomplish and why we have certain things in the budget because 90% of that budget is going to be standardized items that are related to operational items that are you know we're not going to change very much and the items that we need to
discuss are the items related to Capital investment and where we want to put it and whether it's the the request for the fire department or it's the request for the school or it's the request for other items we need to sit there and build that Capital fund out so that we can sit there and you know either save or get some things done so I agree just basically certain light items that we do support and light items that we know we feel we could probably hold off for a year or two and and wait on but let's let's let's let the responsibility to interview boards and you know have boards come to them and present their budgets to the board of Finance instead of us and then just you know I the whole goal is to streamline the processes and make it as painless as possible so yeah yeah I have no problem with that so does anybody have a problem with establishing an initial me in the beginning of February to review the budget with
Eric okay so Eric do you have a schedule that you want to be on do you want to do it so it depends what nights you want to do it you know if you were sticking with the Monday schedule you know theoretically of the 3 the 10th and the 17th why don't we do the third as initial budget review and then the 10th is our regular scheduled meeting and we can review your revisions based upon our recommendations and when is your anticipated date of giving it to the board of Finance I would assume as soon as you guys are through with them because they're going to need part of February and all of March to review given the revised timelines okay so let's sit there and say we could have the initial budget communication on the 3 the meeting on the 3 and then we have our second meeting on the 10th which is our normal meeting and we put that on our agenda to review the revised budget and is that enough time for you to revise I don't necessarily think it's going to be that do you have does the board have an idea of what specifics you want from me for the meeting on the 3 I mean one of the first things that the board of Selectmen really has to do is you do set salary and compensation for all employees that are not Union and not elected well and technically those that don't have contracts so it's determining what your general
across the board wage increase if any is is one of the first things you have to do as a board and then you know I'm happy to review sounds like capital is probably what you're most interested in so I'm happy to to review capital and capital expenditures with you whatever else it is that you have that's a priority we have between today which is the 10th and the the let's say the 21st to get you emails as to what our priorities are and then you can try to incorporate those into what you build for us for the third is that acceptable and then I would tell you on the wage side you need to come to us with what you believe and you can email this to us what you believe the the rates are out there and what we should be considering as far as those percentage increases right okay and just to remember these are just suggestions for the board of Finance these are not what we're dictating we're just suggesting well but actually the one thing keep in mind Jeff is that the board of Selectmen does set the wage and benefits for Town employees the board of Finance does not Board of Finance sets for elected officials but not for the rest of employees that is actually one of your responsibilities technically as a board of Select but that is still approved at public meeting right or public referendum yes well it's part of the budget it's part of the
budget that's an interesting question that's a dentist question whether they can the public can change individual people's salaries well they can't individual but just across the board if we do you know yeah I can do it across the board that's right yep let's not give let's not give anybody any ideas so well I can result in layoffs or something like that you know let's but that's right no ideas let's let's sit there and communicate with Eric between now and give them to the like the 21st and then he has you know I'm sure he's got the majority of the budget put together from a preliminary standpoint and then we'll each give him things that we want him to focus on and then he presents it to us on the third and then we sit there and make
adjustments between the third and the 10th and we see what we consider to be a an appropriate preliminary budget to provide back to the board of Finance okay good okay anybody else have any other issues related to that no item 12 approval of minute meetings for 1212 024 I make a motion to approve the meeting minutes for 1212 2024 okay I got a second seconded and KET seconded further discussion any issues all those in favor I all right item 13 the treasurer's report that was in our packet and started on page 44 any questions related to the treasurers report I do have one Eric can you ask her to include the balance
sheet okay okay any specific issues related to the presentation made by the treasurer's office and the treasure okay we move down to a 14 which is the tax collector's report and that starts on page 55 of our packet we collected $571,000 in the month of December in taxes and then she provided a list of the largest delinquent taxpayer reports and there is one tax refund somebody want to make a motion on that one make a motion we do make this one tax refund to a Michael Hebert for $17.11 I'll second that all those in favor I okay I 15 departmental reports there was a report from the assessor's office there was a report from the fire department for the year they had 400 service calls in 2024 we have to thank the fire department for all that hard work December was a very low month in the the building department as can be expected and we had a report from public works and I think that was it for reports Eric correct correct I don't think there was anything else submitted oh I'm sorry Library report let me not forget the library they were they provided the report for December of 2024 any questions on any of the reports that were submitted by any of the
by any of the Departments okay do we have any correspondence Eric NOP all right not that I'm aware of public speak [Music] test gross yes sir all good yeah my name is grous not gross just pronunciation that's all I get it corrected that's okay right Nick LaVine all good yeah CBC I have a phone number and I believe that's lean Hutchinson is it 5475 yes ma'am yes that's me nothing thank you okay Valerie brno hi I just wanted to comment on the idea of the solar just to let you know Jeff Murray I know you had asked about a few things and I'll provide more in the future to you guys but we have in fact had the Town Administrator speak to our solar person in regards to the project we have had a structural engineer and there's a number of other things that you know you've mentioned that have actually already been a part of the the package so I will send some more information along just as an FYI so that you know where we are with that project thank you okay thank you Joanne
Ebert I am all set thank you all right Kimberly psan I'm all set thank you Caitlyn Macintosh just one comment when you guys were talking about the community room being used exclusively for meetings I don't know if you guys know there is currently an event that takes place in there on Friday afternoons for kids that are like from kindergarten to second grade that's a stem project through the talland robotics something or rather it's really a small area for the amount of people that need to fit into that room and they ask parents to sit at the side of it I would hope that there'd be possibility for that program to move into the community center I'm hoping there's more space in there also would put a plugin for having some kind of infrastructure or online way to sign up for community events and Senior events I understand the idea of putting the cart before the horse but sometimes you have to do that in order to move with Society the way that you need to again thank you for what you guys are doing and regards to the solar project with AES we'll definitely keep you guys informed when we get the results back of the structural engineering stuff that was done over the Christmas break thank you thank you Stephen King nothing else thank you Louise good one I'm all set thank you David ganian hi Jeff we were the fire department was under the impression that our request to change the tax
abatement would be on the agenda today we got the paperwork did Dennis made some corrections and I thought that was supposed to be on the agenda today I thought it was too but it's not on the list unless I missed it it is under right well at least on my my agenda it is on the list under item G which was maybe your item H it was one of the items that we were going to set the meeting date was David you're because we eliminated that item for the town meeting we eliminated that we will we will address that Eric put that on the agenda outside of the town meeting setup so that we can have the necessary data and discuss it and get that moving [Music] okay apologies for that Dave thanks sorry about that Dave yeah Liz lat I'm all said thank you all right Kathleen der roer I encourage the board of Selectmen to support the software for the new community senior space for efficiency and Reporting seniors are not there are seniors seniors are 62 and up and there's plenty of seniors that are using apps and programs so I really encourage this I think going back to paper back and forth back and forth is not a good use of our our director over there in her time but I do understand waiting the three months but I encourage you to move forward with this okay thank you Diane grer I'm all set thank you very much good job guys
and girls Brienne lener I'm almost set thanks okay all right everyone thank you very much for attending Eric I'm going to make a motion that we go into executive session to discuss Personnel issues and we invite the Town Clerk and the town administr tror anybody have any other issues well how about the town attorney excuse me you missed it your ears were closed there for a second I did invite is on vacation is there anyone else I need any is there anyone else I need to invite in Jeff I just have a question sure can you tell me why you're going into executive session we have some issues that we have to address related to our town clerk position and I'm sure that Tess we will discuss Personnel issues and if you would like to come in because we're going to discuss your position you're more than welcome would you like to absolutely I would no problem we'll have you come in first okay everyone else thank you very much Eric if you can stop the recording for a bit and and remove everyone else to the session second it we out I believe we're back to be recording I I don't think I see it but I heard it we're coming out of the executive session it is 11:04 do we have any business to conduct yes Eric can I get Tess's last name please gr gr right I'd like to make a motion to extend test gr's probationary period by three months effective today I'll second that further discussion all those in favor I okay any other business any discussion no we're done we0 are you I'd like to make a motion to hire Christine Randazzo as the town's be for the pickle
ball and playground enhancement project somebody want to second that I would say hire her as the construction administrator because that's basically what we're doing so yeah revise it and then put the dollar amount per hour right yes yes put it in so yeah I'd like to H Christine Randazzo as the town's engineer for $100 an hour for the pickle ball and play enhancements good at Eric I I would instead of calling her the town's engineer because we technically have Nathan Jacobson is the town's construct Consulting engineering firm I would hire her to do construction administration at an hourly rate of $100 an hour you know for that project pursuant to a contract pursuant to a [Laughter] contract here we go again let's go Motion to hire Christine R Randazzo as a construction administrator for $100 an hour for the pickle ball and playground enhancements good enough and are discussion on that no all those in fav can I revise it just to not to do do we need do we need to put it on exceeded amount well we actually said
pursuant to a contract okay okay so Scott you're gonna add pursuant to a contract being we're gonna do it again sorry I just we just we just need to put an out because we can't we can't have it open-ended oire Christine Randazzo as a con administrator for the pickle ball and playground enhancements pursuant to a contract for the amount for the hourly amount of $100 an hour for the hourly amount of $100 per hour per hour per hour yeah seconded right all those in favor I all right motion to adjourn I move the wayour second it and seconded all those in favor all right
thank you very much Dennis thank you all right everybody very productive meeting great it's wonderful to be here thank you