been selected Wednesday February 19th meeting it is now 7:01 I believe if my time is is right and we'll call the meeting to order like I said and we'll cite the Pledge of Allegiance please I pledge allegiance to the flag of unit States America the which stands stands indivisible and justice for all all okay so again calling this meeting to order I guess next we go to public speak Eric do we do that correct can I ask one question Eric on the special budget meeting we don't do additions or Corrections right we're just sticking to our agenda as is well anything budget related that's towards that's for the upcoming budget is fair topic of discussion certainly okay thank you all right so we'll go ahead and if you don't mind okay and Cheryl is joining us right now so we give her a couple seconds should have the treasurer on board happening it looks like she's joined us Eric do you want to go ahead and ask the members of the public or do I do that either way is fine I doesn't look oh yet we do we have one member of the public that I can see yeah all right I see Bob hamburger there
would you like to participate in public speak tonight I have nothing to add at this time thank you thank you I mean do we ask the other members even if they're you know the workers do we ask them for that like Chris do you have anything you'd like to join to discuss or mention at this point Chris I don't this I don't know if you guys can hear me is this working yes yes oh good yeah no I have nothing to add thank you though thanks okay and Cheryl can you hear us can you guys hear me yes yep okay I fixed it no feedback either I mean you're coming in that's great thank you for joining us we had no idea but we
really appreciate it Happy too yeah so again like Mark just announced that he's unable to start the meeting so he'll be joining us I know that we have and actually I'm sorry an CR did you want to say something I mean you're part of the meeting too thank you so much for being here I'm used to the format that the town has usually followed the last few years that I've been on the board where I kind of listen and dissect in my head you know think about the budget because the board of Selectmen has selected it has talked about it for about four weeks in a row and then it would be turned over to the board of Finance so we're at this new experience this year where we've had one combined meeting so far where we did the overview last week and you know a lot of things came up that we could think of at that time and then tonight was another
joint meeting and you know questions that'll come up or whatever so we hadn't really put a plan together CU I feel like we're all receiving the budget so much earlier in the process than having heard it or you know had some things done to it already that being said I I guess I'll start off with a couple questions since our Treasurer is here from that came up last week was I Eric I know that you did a re a revision to the spreadsheet and I'm assuming I know you spent a lot of time with Cheryl is that going to be our normal process like the two of you sit together and work on this budget spreadsheet or it went through you first and then Cheryl went over and found a few things yeah and then Cheryl has re-reviewed it yesterday so we have a couple other changes up to this point so usually at some point in the process the board of of Finance takes over the spreadsheet and then runs with it and makes whatever changes you want at whatever point the the commission wants to do that in the process once you get done with the joint meetings you know you certainly can it can either stay in my and Cheryl's hands or you guys can you know can modify it it really depends on on what you want to do at this point thank you I think we'll wait when Mark's with us to see what we'd like to do I wanted to stay I think it should stay I and and we'll open it up
to the board in one person making any changes so far you and Cheryl and then when we're ready to address things maybe you will turn it over you're right I do remember that happening I would like to say though Chris has put a great deal of time and effort into the spr spreadsheet also so it's not just me and Chris it's a joint effort Chris has done a great deal of work on the spread thank you no that's good to know I think it's good for all of us to know how the process happens you know and I think I saw like her initials on something that she had updated so that's great I guess one question I have and then I want to open it to the board for different questions since we have them here did we take the figures like we discussed obviously we just went over everything last week and then the the salaries that are in there now like say the yearly salaries for the employees we definitely don't want to bring up names we're going to do our best to just say positions did those salaries those were actuals from the year before they would have been through the budget yes if they were a salaried or if
they were hourly the where you look at the employee cost have a combination of both and then the anticipated raises based on Union contracts and things of that nature we double check there is no plan currently to have another increase in minimum wage so that has not been factored in if all of a sudden the governor decides to increase the Connecticut minimum wage again well then would we potentially have have an issue but as of right now there is none but everything that we have currently is there and I know that with this might be a spreadsheet adjustment and we can freeze pains and do whatever we're going to do in Excel but probably down the line once the 3% was decided on by the BOS and you know we probably should get rid of those middle columns it'd be easier to see side by sides I would think of last year's and then just you know what this year's rate's going to be
that's just small that's on my end because it's way we kept the 2% increase you know all the different things that could have happened I want to open up to the board because we do have Cheryl here which is and and Chris too we really appreciate you taking the time Chris out of your you know I know you work during the day so we appreciate you being here darn I would have had a list but does anyone have any questions I mean for Cheryl you know specifically to start with as the [Music] treasurer I don't have any questions specifically to Cheryl but I guess from a standpoint of Eric or Cheryl
whoever you said Eric that a few changes were made since the last time we looked at this I was just wondering do you plan to go through what those changes were and highlight them for us I'm actually gonna have Cheryl go through them because Cheryl's the one that reviewed it again and made the changes so i' feel more more comfortable her talking you through those either she can share her screen or I can try to share mine I can see let me try we all know I'm not very good at this okay well it's I sent a request to let me share my screen yep I gave you the permission okay so I'm going to share number two can share do you guys are you able to see the spreadsheet that's up it's starting yes good job yep yep you got it yes yep I'm gonna go closer do you guys all have it yeah yes okay so what I I had received some information before that the new community center that the board wanted a separate tab for the community center so I did go through and update all the tabs and brought that in here for the board while I was doing all of those and bringing the new tab in I wanted to also again make sure so it's a little
different this year for for everyone we've tried to minimize any errors as we all know there was an error a formula figure error last last year so we've worked extra diligently to make sure that there's no errors hopefully in the formulas this year so everything for the most part is either linked to these individual sheets here elections registra what have you or they come through next to the employee costs then they flop over to employee benefits and healthc care and murf so everything is Linked In Between all of those sheets then it all goes back to the main budget sheet and if you were you when you have the spreadsheet in front of you I mean physically have a copy of it and if you click on a specific cell you'll be able to tell if a number was entered or whether there is a specific formula linking it to some other place and we've tried to color coordinate and tell everybody where we're getting our information so yellow means it's all over to the main sheet there's a formula if it's gray don't touch that we've already calculated the formulas in this salaries are all linked to the employee cost sheet then we have
links for murf and healthcare costs because as we're making changes what we found was that a change may be made in the sheet here in each individual department but because it wasn't linked it wasn't going over to the employee costs and then it wasn't going over to the main budget sheet so that I all spent quite a little time making sure I did find some issues that we needed to fix within the employee costs one was and we put it here overtime for the snow if we have any snow for overtime it was on the individual tab but it wasn't in the employee cost so that meant that when we came down to our total the Social
Security and Medicare wasn't calculating potentially correct we also had some issues with we have multitude of or several different places where we have clerks board clerks they were also they were in these individual Taps but they weren't in our main sheet so we wanted to make sure and update that so they would all be flowing over correctly so those are mainly the changes I made making sure that if they're going to be in here for our snow overtime can I ask just one question Cheryl on that why would a clerk I I understand a clerk you want were we because we needed the total employee cost because I know clerks wouldn't like filter into murf or Clerk wouldn't filter in somewhere else what correct right well in the employee cost has nothing to do with M has to do with the Social Security Medicare and then our potential unemployment and things of that nature right so a clerk I mean I didn't know if it was treated as a stipended position where they got like no they're pay by hours Andor a specific amount of money per okay per meeting and that's subject to Social Security and Medicare so we want to make sure that they're all included okay hand thank you that's that and then we added in the snow time into the murf because overtime we estimating our overtime at 23,000 and change maybe in the 25 26 year well that the corresponding 3,885 was on the individual sheet but it
wasn't coming over to the main sheet for for the potential murf contribution from the town so I went through and made sure that and look it wasn't just me Chris and I were on the phone moving this and she was entering this in here and then I went back and made sure that they were all hopefully flowing correctly to our main budget sheet okay can one other follow-up question can you remind me which formula was the big error last last year if you don't mind it was it was a formula within the main sheet okay and it had to just do with I have to try to remember where it was it was sub toal tried to we tried to put subtotals this year but last year and we Eric and I went over the subtotals again together in the previous budget there was a subtotal but then there was also when we added up when it got added again a subtotal got added to a subtotal so it was a change of about 40 something, yeah I remember thank you okay all right that's great well it's good to hear you know all the changes that you made and you know both of you
with Chris helping and and making sure it's you know correct and everything filters where it needs to filter I did have a question well anyone have any questions so far for Cheryl as she's explaining what she's done I have a question go ahead Louise okay the one that says it's not on the screen though but it was an unknown person for the supervisor yes okay is that a range or is that depending on the person's expertise no it depends on who's hired we don't know who it's going to be so you mean mean for the overtime no no for the salary for the salary that going to be is that set in stone or is that depend on the person's I think that would be more of an Eric question yeah are you're talk you're talking about the Department of Public Works supervisor yes so first of all we don't know exactly whether Jay is retiring or not he's has not made a final decision but presuming he makes a final decision we would have to start with interviews you know and then once we selected somebody try to make try to figure out what yes what we could sign them for so that could go up or down Gally I mean probably we wouldn't be looking to increase it but okay you know and I think I last week we talked about and I asked this question with the town clerk position obviously Carol has officially sorry the town clerk has officially retired at this point Eric and I'm going on that assumption okay and I know we're budgeting for next year
going forward and you know that the board of Selectmen came on last week and they explained what they're trying to do in that position and it sounds like our former town clerk is is willing to come on as a consultant or something so I know there's a lot of variables within that line I'm assuming I'm assuming what's on the spreadsheet now is filtering like we said not with the stien the stien was a good decision I think by the board of Select by the board of finance that year to reward a person who had been in that position for a lot of years and that's why you know if that person ever left there would be a lower salary Point so the stien's gone but I'm assuming the salary and everything that's in there is filtering into all of those things yes okay right now we at this time for the town clerk correct oh I think we kept it at the the
level it would have been and Cheryl I know you'll know if you look at this here the projected is no stien for the town clerk right right oh yeah I'm not worried about the stien we knew wasn't you know that's gone at least at this all right the stien would come back if someone got hired in that role for with 10 or more years that was the the background excuse me julan wasn't a stiping related to the additional hours that they had for elections or something like that not on that particular one bill that particular stien for the town clerk was definitely because there was a lot of discussion on raises for for that position at the time so the stien was created a few years back and it was definitely we would say the town clerk ever retired because we knew this day was coming we didn't want to be married to the high level salary if someone brand new had come in so we thought it was fair to offer that particular styen for someone that was 10 years plus of experience it was around the $6,000 range sorry I can't my eyes don't see this small line but whatever it was at the time 5,000 something yeah but the elections and things there's stipulations with more work unless I'm wrong does someone else think the stien was related to that I'm pretty sure it was the longevity CL clause for the town clerk Eric do you know about that because I could have sworn that was
something to do with the additional hour she was working over the new election laws for early voting and all that so I'll be honest that was I wasn't particularly worried about that because the the town clerk as an elected official isn't really under my control at all so I kind of stayed out of any discussions relating to compensation for elected officials as far as I understand you know part of the argument she was making is that she put in an awful lot of hours for the town hall both on elections and and many other projects which is certainly true I mean there was a lot to the backing of wanting a raise you know I think there and and Bill you're probably right when she came forward and she you know pled her case or whatever was talking to us she did bring forth a lot of things that she's doing so I might not remember that thing I I remember why we decided on a stien and how we Justified it so that was with keep keeping it as a line item for a salary item and everything else if the person hired had 10 years or more of experience but there was a lot of backup for her raise in general okay that's not how I remember it but I'll I'll drop it for now okay oh yeah there's no I mean my only point is moving forward anyway she has retired at this point or she's going to retire she's no long she won't be there in July
that's for sure with the new budget so I was asking Cheryl if we had kept that that one line and it's feeding into murf because we'll have to that'll be a a talking point for the board of Finance moving forward it is not it's it's not calculated into any of the salaries oh it's not no you you took the 6,000 out no I'm not even talking about the stapen I'm sorry I sorry I I think we're I know the sten's gone I'm talking about her salary line absolutely yes absolutely yeah thank you and I guess since are the two of you
planning on staying the whole meeting or should we try to get our questions any questions that we might have to you we'd probably try to get at the beginning Cheryl nope I'm I'm here until you cut me loose okay whatever the board's pleasure right okay so a couple other things I question go ahead I had a question about about this tab first of all I'm a little concerned that it's out there in the public and I think we should be hiding employee names just my feeling but aside from that when I went through in that particular tab is one of in the current salary amounts are look like they were manually entered and I kind of did some calculations to the side just to make sure you know you're breaking up just a little bit correctly and I found a number of discrepancies on that I know I have a terrible connection here wonder if I should try to call in can you hear me it's very broken up and pixelated I guess you'd call it or it's going in and out of a little bit Liz do you mind if I interject your thought because I know you because I I think you might be frozen I'm not sure Cheryl just for something to think on Chris who whoever had put that's what I wanted to know with when I asked you guys about the 24
25 salaries that were there when you compare them to what's in the Union contract I'm not sure if they're all you know what's there and then I know Liz had mentioned that when she did some calculations like say taking whatever the salary was last year putting the 3% in there it doesn't seem to compute for her I will I will double check I made a notation for myself to double check the calculations for the employee C sheet that's great and so thank you and then the the whatever populated the current salary for people that are union employees and we understand they're rate that can't change it's in a binding document are all of those correct according to you all of what this year salary for those positions I don't want yes they should be I I will double check with Chris again I know she's on but I know she's muted so I will certainly double check with her again but okay oh yeah I did double check all those figures there was a mathematical error in the Union contract last year which would make a little bit of a difference in the salaries right and I don't thank you for
that I mean because I'm looking that I did like I said I would have prepared a lot more things that I could see instead of at the screen but when I look at some of the salaries and I don't want to say them out loud here you know of what people you know what the salary says on this contract document so maybe I'll just ask for a newer document or the Rev is has the have the contract's been revised so maybe I'm looking at an older document the Union contract well the new ones are out right so I'm looking at the asme contract that ends June 30th 2026 so okay so the the one that ended 20 what was it 2024 had mathematical errors and I believe that going forward it did as well because they did not catch their error but I can double check that and get back to you no problem Chris I appreciate that so when you say mathematic because that's a big deal I mean I'm a union member myself so say were you saying an hourly rate was wrong in a document that was approved correct there was a they made a mathematical error at the end page right and that's the big page that's the page everyone looks at when you're so did they was it you know over a dollar an hour more or something I don't remember I don't remember off the top of my head and was it in all of the positions or just one or two Joan I'm not too sure I don't
have the documentation in front of me but I can certainly research it and get back to yeah because we don't want to make a big deal about any kind of calculations that are wrong if we don't have the you know so that's all I'm getting at so thank you for for letting know but y would that have made an adjust it sound and like not pressuring you not this is just we're taking advantage of having you we didn't know we were going to you know we didn't know you guys were going to be forward so I'm just coming up with these as I think of
them and like Liz did so did it make an impact so did it make an mathematical error of a 3% increase and they didn't properly add the 3% then that that's where the error was they didn't properly add the 3% so their Figures were wrong so therefore if you were just going off the back page rather than actually doing the math that's where the discrepancy came in no I and I follow that because I've been doing a lot of math no I thank you thank you for that because and that's why we're trying to make it make sense because I'm like I know what the starting salary was for a position so there wouldn't have been a mistake there so it's easy to do 3% on something and it just seemed a lot higher than if even if it was three o' 3% across the board so I don't know if
Liz has I don't want to steal lizz's questions on this but it sounds like there was some kind of error at some point so there had to be some adjustments so that's why if we're seeing things that are different than what we expected that would be it but I yeah Li can I jump can I jump yeah can I jump in and try it again how does it how does it sound now yeah I can hear you sounds better that's better Liz okay thanks Bob Hamburg so if we I'd like to go back to the employee cost t because that's where I was finding the calculation errors and you can tell me if what I'm showing you but okay I'll I'll give you some line numbers so if
you look at line number for instance number 36 and you see 24 I'm sorry I'm sorry on on the first page that we're all looking at right now just want to make sure we're all looking at the same page and employee cost oh yeah employee cost yep yep so for for instance the the in column e row 36 manually entered was the salary number but if I calculate this hourly rate times 40 hours for 52 weeks I don't come up with that number I come up with a different number and I find that same problem in the following one two three the following three lines and then it skips a couple lines and and then it goes like on several a lot of these lines I ran into that problem so Liz were you on the call when my Chris had said well sorry I won't interrupt your question she's going to get back to us on some of the rates some of the rates weren't right in the published documents for the town some of the some of the hourly wages were not correct is they weren't represented in the Union contract correctly so they found the error and they based some things on that but it might your questions might be different so I'm gonna I just want to make sure you know
that so we'll have to okay put pause on some of it because we'll wait to get the corrected document okay so maybe that will maybe maybe that does take care of this but I I think it would probably make sense for somebody to go through this column e and make sure that the calculations are correct based on whatever that contract whatever that contract was that's all Cheryl yes it's Louise would that have impacted the benefits costs at all well the benefit costs are calculated on a payroll basis so if we've got somebody who's got is over because they extra time extra snow people come in people go out the benef all I can calculate benefits on during the budgets cycle is what we're anticipating it's going to be but could a could could we have an issue in 2425 we could but we've also have new people in and people have left and it could happen yes I was more talking about the error and the the salaries you mean from the Union contract yes errors could it have a impact on the murf potentially sure yeah
because they we contribute and the employee has to contribute in some cases depending on where they are in the murf so if you'd like let me go over I'm going to come over to healthcare and murf these are the only employees currently or the only positions if you s well that are potentially subject to murf not every single employee that we have is subject to the murf calculations does that help at all that does Louise hopefully that helped I mean I think yes there's going to be some adjustments you would think if it's not much money or different different rates that didn't affect it too much you know it's I don't think that part's going to be too bad or too too big of a change but it's nice that they're both going to take a look at it make sure the right rates are there and then we can have the correct rates of that I don't want to get too bogged down into this but having Cheryl here I had a couple questions for her because it came up the last meeting and Eric was nice enough to mention it with the murf we I'm glad to see cuz I had corresponded with you in the past about the fee that people get the fee in Li of taking the insurance that's not in the calculation for murf or anything for an employee Eric clarified that for all of us and I
think Sherl you had told me that before yeah thank you and then the additional stiens this was a question that came up last week that some of the employees get I think Eric said that that and all accept it it's part of their total compensation package and so that does reflect murf correct that would be correct it's it's part of their compensation yes the other one is a non- taxable potential benef well it's a benefit right right they're getting extra and then the yeah not everyone pays the stiens the same way but but it's been researched and I I accept that that makes sense for what's
happening here in your history Cheryl I'm going to ask you the thing that I questioned Eric about last night and like I said not getting too much bogg down and I think it'll get discussed further down the line the the stiens that people are given the reason that they were created these extra jobs have you that you know Eric didn't want to advertise and bring on a full-time or a part-time person to do a little bit of work that was there in the town hall so he found people within the town hall that took on these extra duties those I find a hard time and I will talk to it again that those I don't think should be getting raises every year I think it's become the norm as Eric's put this spreadsheet together because it's not really a job per se I think it's a stipend to do a certain amount of work I think it could be and Cheryl I'm using your expertise it could be given a dollar amount and just stay there I don't mind that it or I'm not against and I understand why it would get murf and it's a total compensation but EV these are stiens or additional things they don't need to be in the raise column every year am I right on that Cheryl I don't agree with you if people are receiving a stien for extra work that they're doing because we are have chosen to bring have an employee e that's already
part of the Town structure take on additional duties the duties just keep going on so you know you just so you give somebody a a stien and the next thing you know they've got this extra Duty and that extra Duty so no I I personally don't agree with you if we're lucky enough to have someone that's willing to do a stien and to show we're we're not talking hundreds of thousands of dollars in stiens and even if it's A1 thousand increase not that I'm making L of a thousand but you know it equals out to be you know $16 in change in murf or and I appreciate and I'm putting myself out there too and this is what I do for the town as an elected person and I that's why I don't mind asking you the questions because I do value your opinions too and you've always you know gave us the right answer I get that and a stip in from I work in personnel and benefits and things like that so deal with these all the time and so stiens in those cases are given to employees that want to earn and I I'll give you the backside and like I said I'm putting myself out there too it's not popular it's nothing against the person I like all the people that are there but a stip in generally is an extra Duty that people are given and they earn extra money that's great that people want to take it on there but they also usually do it outside their normal hours
everywhere I've been involved I'm fine and I think it's great that our little town will let our employees get that added benefit of doing it within their workday which is never happens that I've seen so that's an extra benefit that hey you're going to get your regular salary you're going to earn this extra stip in and you're going to get to do it within these same hours we're not going to make you work extra hours if you can get it done so I just had a problem with it it didn't seem right for me that it was on the same level I don't mind it going into their total compensation but then being on the same line as it's not even in the contract but they get like 3% every year again I know this is going to look nitpicky but this is why I'm on the board to ask these questions with knowledge of things I know so that's my side of it and then these were extra jobs where Eric didn't want to hire a full-time person and have to pay the benefits and everything but as we add positions to our little town you know there might be other places those stiens can go sorry I so that's that's my side
of it so I don't think there's you're saying there's not a law Cheryl that requires it gets a raise every year not that I'm aware of okay so what except for Union contracts or something of that nature exactly they're not in the contract that I again I don't I'm not the bad guy here I don't want to fight over a little bit but this has raised every single year in a big way that's all Joan remember both the people that are currently getting stiens yeah are union employees yeah and you cannot unilaterally assign a union employee additional work requirements without negotiating that with the Union and if you think you're going to get the union to agree that that doesn't index with their salary you know you're probably not GNA succeed right and Eric I only speak of things that I'm sure of because I've sat on both sides of the table as you know I
sat with you on the management side and I'm certainly you know on the union side and happy for anything that people get of a union I just want to bring it up with Cheryl here because it usually when there are into positions like this they would be listed in a Union contract and then people bid on them I get it we're a small town I just wanted to know because it seems like some of the jobs are on the small side we're we're very glad like Cheryl said that town employees would want to take them on but like I said there are the benefits of getting them done during
the regular day and they're getting a good sizable decent amount of a stien that's all I just going for all the questions that we've had or that were brought up last week yeah and so every year I've watched you give whatever increase to that and these things steadily go up all right I'm going to move on from does anyone have any follow-up questions on that as far as for Cheryl I just don't think there's laws on it again I'm glad you know it's it's hard to be in this spot again we we all know each other we know people at the town it's not about that it's just getting the correct information with as we have to look at these benefits and the employee piece is a huge piece of the budget that we look at every year Joanne can I just say something please sure sorry I couldn't see you Kim there you are go ahead Kim I I just wanted to say that I think you bring up all good points and I really appreciate that this is getting talked about you know I I kind of agree with you I think if you're GNA get a stip in for a separate job that you know potentially you should be working that position in separate hours that's all I appreciate it I mean these are things that have to be talked about and we have to get the corre information and and they go up every year and this is no secret because it was talked about in the board of
Selectmen meeting I think they're bringing another person back to do some Consulting and do some work at the Town Hall so who knows if some of these stien things can go there not trying it's never easy when you're talking about salaries and things like that so I've made my point I appreciate Cheryl your input on that but it's but it's good for the employee too because they don't have to work extra hours to get the extra pay and all of the other things all right I guess we'll does anyone have any more questions on any of the employee things that are out here before we move on to other areas orry I can't see everybody because but please feel free to speak out if anyone has questions let's see all right there we go and all right so moving on from that you know Mark's not here and I thought my thought with tonight's meeting was we were going to kind of set our format for how everyone wanted to proceed you know I didn't prepare ahead of time so I was going to kind of listen to his Direction but I don't know you know I want to put it out there for everyone with Cheryl still here with us I know we're going to have certain weeks
that we talk about different parts of the budget we can certainly bring questions forward to Eric Tonight Eric are you at our next meeting yes I will be at the meeting today is let me just pull up my calendar today is the 19th I will make the meeting on the 26th and I'll make the meeting on the 5th I will be gone on the 12th and I will be back on the 19th okay I will be doing the 12th for in place of Eric great oh good cherl I'm writing that down we appreciate that so I go ahead I think one of the things to think about is I mean I I think we we ought to keep track of the big picture if we're going to make if you're going to make significant cuts to the budget it's likely to be in capital I mean we all kind of acknowledge that that's where you know in the town H or in the budget there's a significant amount of money most of the line items in the budget are fairly immobile you know we're not going to sure you could trim a little bit off of something but if you're going to make a significant difference it's going to end up being in a capital line I'm certainly prepared to talk about the capital lines if you want to I I just I don't know what I want to maximize your time I agree Eric I appreciate you jumping in there I was going to ask the board too I agree we we can move to that in a moment but
in this particular meeting I kind of wanted to ask I feel like at these meetings we've all kind of given an overview like you said of what we thought I know Robert's been a member of the board for a long time I don't want to you know so I thought that like you said Mark was kind of gonna set okay tonight we're we know we have the Board of Ed coming on the 19th of March we're going to invite Ram I know my thoughts on like you said the big picture but I don't need to hear myself talk all the time so I
didn't know if any of the board members you know this is let's face it this is a huge increase all over I'm just goingon to have to say it because you know Mark's not here to run the meeting I didn't have any kind of dialogue planned but it's our job as the board of finance and I feel like we've all kind of talked before at our meetings of our thoughts so we can dive into you thinking the capital and I I agree I mean because the increase is so big this year you know I don't want to presume whether it'll pass or not pass but it's our job to put forward a budget that we think can pass and this is the biggest one we've faced since I've been on the board so right to remember that the state of Connecticut cut our ECS money by almost $90,000 that's certainly a reason for the increase part of your increase State caught us from 2 million in change down to we got that notification in February let me get up there and show it
to you the education cost sharing Cheryl that you see yes they did okay they went down by almost 90 just 89,000 and change that's the the last update we have from the governor's budget that I updated on 25 got came through that he's potentially going to cut all towns and that's the portion for Handover so add immediately $90,000 on to the total portion everything else yeah I no I hear you there's plenty of reasons and plenty of things that that you know are added in the budget or or needed and necessary so yeah I don't know board board of Finance members does do anyone want to come forward again that's my thought I thought we when we do have our meetings and we get going obviously we're going to have to look at it we're going to have to we can bring some departments in if we'd like to do we're going to have the school present their budget we're going to have Ram come we know that it's more of a presentation I don't know again that was just my quick synopsis of an overall is that it's a huge ask this year and I just know this town that's all so is not wrong with if there's going to be Cuts but I don't want to presume that
everyone feels the same way and that it's going to have to be looked at from all angles Rob do you want to give your overall on what you're thinking yeah I mean U thank you I think you know obviously it's a big increase and we we're gonna have to get it down I don't think I that's my take I'll just flat out say it I don't think it's pass in its current form so in the past if memory serves what we did to start off was we asked Eric to kind of run down the 5 to 10 biggest drivers and you know worked our way
through those obviously we're going to go line by line eventually through the whole thing but I think we we tried to use that as a way of narrowing our focus at least in the beginning to what are the things that are really pumping this budget up and what can be done about them right and then we can kind of go from there and you know at the end of the day we we we grind ourselves down to where we're we're haggling over 500 bucks somewhere in the bus but we want to look at something impactful if we're looking at it you know an 8% increase or whatever this is and we want to get it down say four you know these are just numbers but I'm picking out of the out of the air but I think that's my gut take is I like to go to start like big picture what are the big drivers and then kind of drill down I appreciate that bill do you want to add your thoughts your over I just think it's good if we all say I'm aligned with Rob right there I couldn't agree more I I couldn't agree more that's how I think we've done it in the past I've already heard well I I could tell you that I know from living here in town a 2% Mill increase is going to be very tough to get by so there's work to be done here I'm always
cautious and I think we should go to Eric and say please where are the big hitters that we can be looking at obviously when you looking at employees you're looking at certain areas of this that can't be touched they're immovable so what can be moved and what are the big items that will make difference I think I would also caution and this is just my thoughts of trying to get this budget to the absolute bare minim it could be because even at a a 1% increase it may not pass a one mill increase and if you have to go back to the mill again and you've already cut everything there is to cut out it's like then you're going to cut into things that are important and that shouldn't be cut so I think you have to be careful just about how much at this first pass and that's
just just my thoughts anyways you know when you're starting to Wile this thing away we might have to come back a second time is all I'm thinking about and so I get nervous about sometimes if you try to get this to Absolute bare low because if it doesn't pass and yet I come pack it's G to be more hurtful I think oh right I'm probably getting out I I appreciate what what you and Rob have said and I agree that's the way we should go and I think listening to Eric you know point out some of the big hitters is definitely the right way to start and then drilling down after that into the line by line right and I just want to add I guess my thought too is just an overall thought is that I know we've been ambitious in the past with a lot of projects on the table and this might be the year if that helps us as we
listen to Eric and drill down to kind of complete some of those projects that are already Grant funded and that have kind of been on the back burner instead of taking on anything new so maybe that could help us that's just a thought I have he may not agree with that how about Kim or Liz or Louise would you like to just give your overview go ahead Kim I I kind of agree with what you're saying Joanne I I think maybe putting a pause on new big projects and wrapping up some of the ones that we have going on and then going into kind of a maintenance program for the town I think everything that Eric has done is wonderful but we do have to be able to
maintain all this wonderful stuff and afford it so you know let maybe just finish some stuff up and then I I would just like to make sure that we have maybe a presentation from the far Department I know that they have a big ask this year and personally that's probably my biggest concern about all of this and will Public Works come on or does Eric pretty much represent them you would like Jay Tuttle here you you're the board of Finance you can have anybody you want in the town appear before you it's certainly you just tell me who you want hear from and when and I will arrange that Eric that's what we're going to do we're going to listen to everyone's thoughts good point Kim I think definitely we'd like to have public works here one time and we'll get our dates out and we'll we'll put forth because I want to know if there's any other departments too thank you that we want to see I I agree with Kim Fire Department Public Works you know the big ones there you know it's been great to be able to ask Cheryl a few of these questions tonight that came to mind go ahead Kim do you have more I think that's it for right now thank you Joan okay great Liz would you like to add yeah I'm in favor with doing
the The Heavy Hitters first and trying to see where we can cut back I think at some point we probably will have to go a little line level but I I'm just concerned because the budget increase last week last year was just so high and I think maybe we're feeling that pinch maybe this year to make last year's budget kind of the the level set and to go from there I think that's why it's maybe going to be more difficult this year I agree when you look at the EXP expense line you know the the little bit of prep that I did before as far as things you know expenses only this year between our three you know between the town RAM and AES or what whatever Eric's math was on the spreadsheet and everybody that worked on the spreadsheet the expenses only are up $ 64,65 from last year there's things that will help bring that down but
that's when you just go the expenses for the town you know so so to have that be the norm that was a good point because last year was a 16% increase I think on the town side I there was so many numbers flying around okay Louise would you like to or Liz are you all set sorry no no that's that's all for now I just wanted everyone to get their their their say because I do remember we've all done that you know and I don't want to assume that everyone you know but everyone seems to be of the same mindset so far that they think this is a big ask to pass through the town you know the town that we live in so so so I I Echo
what you guys have said it would be nice though to get our answers our questions answered by those that are pending at this point so we have everything in front of us when we actually go through the budget and I'm basically speaking about AES you know if there's any outstanding type of questions' be nice to get that straightened out before and so for the record no matter how much you cut the town you can't balance the budget overall I mean the overall mill rate increase right now is about 8% but the town only owns a little over a 100,000 of that the rest is the school system and the changes that the state imposed on municipal ities and how the mill rate is calculated so there's and I would also note that the town budget increase is still less than the inflation rate this year so I wouldn't say that it's exactly out of line but I I would say there are areas that could be cut just understand that you know when you start cutting Capital you affect projects and but sometimes it has to be done thank you Eric and no one really wants you know everyone wishes we could keep everything all the time you know and we're just going to have to work our way through it as you said it's just there was a on the town side like you said there was a 16% increase last year
so now that is seen as the norm so putting together the 2year you know increases a lot it's a lot to to take but we'll go through it thank you everybody that has Mark joined us I can't see everyone's faces there has Mark been able to he said he might join us but I don't see him so without you know should we allow Eric to go through I guess Eric you are going to start on the capital I had one question about elections in general because that came to mind as we're looking at the main spreadsheet do it seemed like there was an increase there again I know we're not at the line by line but do do those increases is there a lot of work in a non you know presidential election year that's a question you should be asking the elections officials directly because that the elections budget gets passed to you straight from what what Linda Derek and and Wall-E provided if you would like I can send forward to the board their supporting documentation in fact I'm happy to send you the supporting documentation for every board in commission and entity that sent it to me if you guys want to look through all the primary documentation that that's certainly fine and and I'm happy to do it is that a lot of work to do Eric I don't want to make more work I mean the election one for sure I mean we can ask for you know certain things when we get to that point I mean I'm never you know we've been pouring through these lines and different you know information so
yeah I'd like to I thought the elections it looks like it went up quite a bit and you know that just came to mine off the top of my head so yeah we could that would be great if you could forward that to us but I'm gonna do you want to go ahead with where you were Eric you were going to start talking about the the capital lines I guess because those are big ticket items sure we can review capital I mean I'm I'm available to review whatever it is that you would like to review well again yeah so the first thing I would say is that the ones I would think we don't want to touch are the fire engine fund the Public Works equipment fund and the bridge and Culver fund and the reason I say that is those three are essentially funds that are are or will be fully taken up by existing obligations and by that I mean the presuming we end up with a 10-year loan on the fire engine that's about $125,000 a year so that takes up the majority of that fund the two existing leases that the Public Works equipment or Public Works has choose up basically the entire Public Works equipment fund and the bridge and Culvert fund is enough to fund next year in 2026 is the expected replacement of the Lake Road Culvert that's right next to basa Road so we we've been putting money into that fund consistently for the last five years so we have our share because that's 50% State funding 50% Town funding so that is what that line item is the rest you know we can certainly talk about I mean contingency
I don't think we should lower I mean right now we're our contingency budget for the town is 0 4% that's already pretty low I don't realistically thinking you're going to getting get it much lower than that and that money goes right back into the unexpended fund balance if it's not used you know the multi-use building fund the rest of the funds you know all can be trimmed to some extent if that's what you want to do I mean obviously we're projecting putting another $100,000 into the AES Capital fund that's certainly negotiable the building maintenance fund
even though we're trimming it from last year that's negotiable and if you want to do less road work and less tree work we can cut those funds too so if you're going to make a a a change in the budget that's probably where it's likely to be if you're going to do something to really equalize out funding Eric before our next meeting I remember last year you sent us the balance sheet like so we were given what the current balance is in all of those funds yeah I'm pretty sure I sent all of those to you about a month ago okay I'll look that in the beginning of the month not I can certainly resend them I don't believe we've made any changes since I sent them out okay I can't get in my town email can I just ask a quick has anyone had trouble getting into your town email and it's asked you for dual authentication but then you're stuck mine's working no you got fine yeah I mean it's like at work I have to sign in you know with codes and everybody's fine okay hopefully by tomorrow I think Kate's going to work on it for me but yeah I I will look for those balances Eric I don't want to make work for you if we already have it I mean I've been going through a bunch of the things and then I wanted to can you it's it's related but a little non-related I know the big ticket item for AES with
getting those bathrooms repaired how much will that did we have did you throw out a number of what we think the repair will be I know we have engineering and plans and have okayed that but what will that repair cost ish well so that's a moving Target so when we originally talked about this and I originally looked for a what's called an MEP firm or a an engineering firm that specializes mechanical electrical and plumbing systems for buildings we were looking at just a straight repair you know doing what the minimum we could to fix the problems and get the bathrooms fully functional it seems like the school is shooting for a more extensive renovation of the bathrooms you know so I don't want to give you a number I think before if we were doing the repairs making it fully functional I could have easily seen that coming in under 300K what it's going to be now I I don't have a an estimate for it not going to be cheap though right for some reason 250,000 was sticking in my head but I wanted to know so we know that's their huge I know that's number one on their project list I know there's more okay thank you just wanted to know that Joan I remember the same number in my head as well you did yeah yeah I kind of had that number in the back of my head but I I think the the note that it says here and they at the tri board
meeting they said they would have a a plan to us which we have not received yet a fiveyear plan I believe is what was asked for with the top three or four priority items so knowing how much to fund you know that that line item that $100,000 why I'm you know it makes sense to me it'd be nice to have that Capital plan that Capital spending plan to you know take a look at that number right there and see if we can still support that or not so absolutely I I know they yeah I guess it'd be nice to hear from them earlier than later I would think I'll reach out I would think they had their budget meeting or they had their their regular monthly meeting last week the same night we had our first joint meeting that and I believe were going to go ahead and officially pass you know or you know their budget by the board of and usually we will get an email from them presenting it to us you know we've seen drafts I know they have this posted their regular budget but and then I thought I saw something that they were working on their their five-year Capital plan so hopefully we'll see it soon Bill thank you yeah because then we can kind
of prioritize because I know that's an urgent need and I know they have a couple other things the elevator I know you know all the other I don't want to speak for them get get myself in the wrong but we'll wait and see that that would be helpful to know that that's good to know all right and Eric yeah thank you for going over these I agree so I will look at the balances too because I assume because we've been putting in a certain amount every year some of those balances are higher and like you said I mean I'm not talking about anything specific but cuts are going to have to come somewhere this year we're so I'm that's why I kind of floated out my idea of hopefully finishing some of the projects that already are funded or partially funed funded by grants because we are going to have to look to to bring that number down to a passable budget the cuts are going to have to come somewhere but just yeah just remember even if you knock the town budget down to zero that still only gets you down somewhere to around a 6% mill rate increase so right you
know unless you're going to make the town's budget significantly negative you're not going to offset the increases in the other two entities you know there's only so much it's only you know slightly less than a third of the total exactly no understood Eric I wish and I'll I'll publicly say as a member of the board of Finance I don't mind saying this I'd say this in public I mean I wish sometimes that people would take a little bit of time and think about the ram budget Ram is a wonderful school and they do great things you know my children graduated from there did well but you know that budget pretty much passes every year without really being looked at like we really look at all of these budgets so you know with their enrollment down significantly in the past few years I mean I've had towns people say this to me so I don't mind publicly speaking it here since you brought that up Eric would be nice if one of these years maybe that didn't pass and they were able to take a little bit down they're not a huge part of you know and over doesn't supply all the kids there but but anyways I I understand that the town is a third of the budget so all right I don't know if we should you know I don't want to again didn't prepare to to run it but I maybe we should take time to look at the calendar dates I mean we're in over an hour here and so I don't know if we should you
know pick dates that we'd like to see some of the Departments and then we can Circle back and ask questions you know definitely Public Works in the fire department Eric do you think that's something we could handle in one one evening having them both present you know talk to us or be available for questions or do you think they should stand alone I think you could combine those two if you wanted to have that discussion with both of them it just depends what information you want to see I mean if you if you have if you looked at the capital budget that also has the outlines of the roadwork plan in it I can certainly send you additional documentation related to that it just depends how much you know or what you want to see do you just want to talk to J pudle the public work supervisor and then when it comes to the fire department are you looking at discussing the operations side or are you looking to discuss the capital side because one might be the board of fire Commissioners and the other one might be
talking to the actual fire chief so who is it that you want to talk to good point does anyone have an opinion on that Kim I know you had questions what sure they they said that they need some new equipment so I guess I'd like to hear a little bit more about that yeah that's the capital expense that they brought before CIP for the new year, yeah I think that that that's a really really big deal in our budget so I just want to you know hear a little bit more about that so I can make a good decision about it I think it's really important that's and Eric I believe go and what I would would say is that the two items that are going to chew up all the money for the fire department are one the new Squad vehicle and we will have to have a public meeting because although it was approved to purchase it you know what two years ago when it came up because it's going to end up being
financed that will have to go to public meeting even though the expenditure was approved because any any financing requires town meeting and also the SCBA has been on the fire department's Capital plan since I was original member or since I was a member of the CIP which is back six or seven years ago probably seven years ago before I became an administrator so this has been something that they have has been on their Capital request for a long time so I think you could simply ask them to present you know to give you a current cop copy of their 10-year Capital plan I actually don't have a current the last time they did one was about three years ago but I think that's a reasonable request and they can supply that hey Eric it's Liz so I see here where you say cire commission spreadsheet that's not included here in this document is it I don't think so I think I they have a the the the Fire Commission gave me a standalone spreadsheet when they gave their budget so what I ask every Department to do is to fill out their budget sheet and then give me a ex explanation of what their budget is what they're spending money on and what they're accomplishing with it I rarely get that to be honest with you
most most departments you know it's a struggle to get them to give me a budget let alone anything else but in some cases like the buyer commission usually gives me a fair bit of information which I'm happy to pass off on to you guys if you want it yes please that would be good yeah especially on the capital side yeah definitely the big purchases Eric that's a good qu we did approve that did get approved for an expenditure like you said the new fire engine but nothing's been done with it correct as far as it's not been ordered or it is oh it's ordered ordered for a year it's been ordered for a year to okay yeah just like we have an ambulance that's been on order for two years in another two years we'll get it you know we've approve these things and you forget where they are in the pipeline you know as far as I know the financing and I know the public works and the
pieces of equipment there okay right all right and then are we able to I know you mentioned town meeting I know there's a lot of things that have to be brought up in town meeting will there be sort of a combination town meeting in our near future to approve some of these things that is up to the board of Selectmen I have been working with them to try to come up with a date right when because they need to hold a special meeting to identif y a time to hold a public meeting there's a series of things that really should go to public meeting right that just haven't yet okay all right so my thoughts and moving from here that would be great if at our next meeting we could have that information from the Fire Commission or the you know the capital side I don't know if I'm calling it the right thing that would be good okay so next weekend next when Wednesday you want to hear from J our regular that's our regular meeting do you all think I mean since we're heavy into budget season I mean I'd be willing to have it during that meeting absolutely yep yep so yes that would be that would done okay yeah I'll line up Public Works in the fire department that's for next next week next week next Wednesday and Eric is still like available there so that's good I mean we'll think on it Eric and we can get you a list of because I
think the superintendent Ram superintendent wants to come to one of our meetings to present yeah yeah I guess if I was to have any say in in the you know when they come yeah I'd like hear from AES before I mean we have really no input on RAM right I mean true so AES is something I think would be I'd love to see their Capital plan so that's something I think we have to see earlier than than Ram obviously the fire department and Department of Public Works if we get them next week and AES the week after that and then Ram right after that that'd be like my order I guess heard I like that that makes perfect sense and March 19th right they
had locked in for March 19th but we can revisit that Kim who who who locked in for the 19th yeah had requested the 19th but that's kind of close to the end of our process I think that's too far down the road if we can move that be very helpful yeah just I'm not sure how finished their budget is has their Board of Ed ratified their budget at this point and I don't know the answer to that question I'll have are they still discussing that it was supposed to happen last Wednesday since we had a meeting as well I don't know if it did we haven't seen it come through email like it normally does
right after they do that so we'll find out that's good question I know it's posted in a draft form we haven't received anything yet so we'll check into all of that and good point Bill sooner than later seeing that and hearing their Capital plan and stuff so we can work on that those are things that can happen behind the scenes for tonight does anyone have any other things they want to talk about or any thoughts on the budget process or you know we still have Cheryl here I'll see I it's hard for me to see everyone let me look down Joanne yes Li this is Ann oh Ann sorry I've Lost You Ann where are you go right ahead an all right I understand the Board of Ed did approve their budget last Wednesday I haven't seen any of the figures either but I understand that it did approve it and they don't have an exact amount for the bathroom remodel yet because still in the design phase but they think that with the Surplus they had from last year and what's in their
account now it should cover most of that so they don't have it in their budget to ask for money for the the bathroom of course they do have other Capital things coming down the line like the elevator right and the parking lot so that you know they do appreciate put some money into their Capital fund that's great thank you Ann thank you for yeah I knew they had that meeting thank you for giving us an update of what you think we should be receiving as a board that email pretty soon where the superintendent will attach her her letter and all of that so that's good that was a question I'm glad you said the word Surplus earlier when someone was talking that's what I wanted to ask Eric we know AES will get audited as well and have a surplus and we have a policy in place that if they want to they have places they can put that money into we've taken care of that Eric with the I I know the audit probably hasn't happened it isn't final and all of that good stuff but there was you know talk of having a surplus on the town side that you've told us a couple times correct sure we're in fact if you look in the budget you can see where estimating using $190,000 of fund saw that Eric yep you know that's that's to bring down the overall budget and the overall mill rate there's a chance that can be at least
$100,000 higher than that but we need a better indication from the auditor we need to be long in the audit process before that a determination to make it higher than that is made right but we may be able to to lower you know the overall by you know at least another 100,000 and I understand that and that's why I wanted to make my point earlier that you know the expense line and is up so every year whether we can do things to bring everything down and I'm glad I mean when we're at the end and I thought there was a talk of possibly 300,000 of a surplus in that area maybe I'm wrong with my figures but we also know that we can't count on that every year so we're giving the taxpayers these
expenses so we have to do our best do we know when we'll have a better idea about that Eric I suspect sometime in in mid-march we'll have a pretty good indication and Cheryl may have a better you know feeling for that than I but they're starting to do essentially diagnostic testing and asking for specific you know specific expenses to look at so that usually means that they've gone through all the capital and all the little accounts and now they're you know they're comfortable kind of with the main budget expenditures and now they're testing to make sure that that all the numbers match but that's that's probably more a Cheryl question than an Eric question the the Auditors were in the school last week they were also in the town I had a meeting with our the partner that not Mike but Caroline she is our person we lost Sam so we have a new person coming in so there's a little bit of a learning curve for her everything that they've asked for we've supplied and we're waiting for our post retir M benefits the actuary has to issue the report but that just automatically that's just part of the final audit package it's has to be issued in order for them to issue but as long as our financial statements are ready to go we should have a better idea on the potential return for fund balance thank you great good to know Eric another question that came up I'm glad I thought of it I don't want the meeting to go too lengthy tonight I know
we're going to have a lot of can you explain in a nutshell cuz someone had asked me and I wasn't the town planner person that we have and that we pay for I think you have a line item of 48,000 this year in that place I again my eyes cannot see this little thing correct and I know that in the past we have there's a town plan require isn't there a a required plan that the town has to have and you have this person do it can you just explain that but in a nutshell just sure who our town planner is and the services that he offers to the town sure the town of Andover is way too small to have our own town planner so we a two two and a half years ago the town of Andover hired the firm Tai Chi and its principal John gusowski or one of the principal Partners John gusowski to be as the town's Consulting Town planner and we did that because we
went out to RFP for a consultant to do our 2025 or maybe 2026 depending on when it actually gets out the door plan of conservation and development and we had been budgeting money every year in a PCD implementation fund except for multiple years when the order to finance cut that but that's a different story so we had a pool of money in the pocd implementation fund so for the first two years we offset part of the cost of hiring the consulting firm you know with that what was called the PCD implementation fund and but it looks like we're kind of out of that fund money so now we're paying the full brunt of the cost for the Consulting planner and taii the firm itself and is that someone that you call on a lot I mean do does I know that I've seen him in to meetings and I I like to listen to him and his that it's a need that we have a lot of sure a high you know for a part-time
Consulting person I get it it's you know it's a big ticket item that stands out yeah it is it is a big ticket item you know it's one of those areas where there's a huge again there's a huge Municipal shortage that firm is Consulting Town planners for probably close to a dozen towns I mean this is kind of what we're doing is exactly what they do you know because most of the towns H have a full-time experienced Town planner the cost basis for that when when we looked into it was somewhere between about aund and quarter and $170,000 a year so by using a firm you know we get a really bright prinal and then we get his staff so you know it's not 100% him doing the work for the town you know it's him plus all his employees working and the goal is basically the PCD and then immediately roll into implementing the pocd because the important part is not ever having a plan it's having a plan and then making it work and you could probably talk to Ann cre about that because she's on the Planning and Zoning commission so she probably has has a fair bit of interaction with them also no I've heard him and seen him at meetings no I just you know for such a small town I just wanted to just ask the question is it a real need because it it's quite an expense you know for a part-time Consulting okay with that can I ask a question yes before you move on yeah so so what what line are we looking at for that person that town
planner because that was a question that I had is who is this person I had never known who it was yeah and and pardon my ignorance but what do they what does what do they do so the town planner it normally does a number of things number one in a town they're likely to be if not the principal grant writer certainly one of the one or two grant writers that a town has they are they interact very heavily with the planning and zoning commission they attend all the Planning and Zoning commission meetings and they interact with the other land use boards also they're they're basically their major role is to help the town you know understand the direction it needs to go as a town
and develop the long-term planning for the town of Andover that's that's in a nutshell what a what a town planner does they often have multiple roles most Town planners also act act as the economic and Community Development person and John does work with ourc to some extent you know he's worked with the community center on developing surveys he and I co-wrote the the the last grant that we got from well he helped write our lsip application which was a you know a $2.9 million Transportation grant that we got he also helped write our wck Trails Grant application which we also got so it's it's Planning and Development it's Economic Development to some extent and and it's grant writing those are kind of the the two biggest ongoing things and then periodically somebody has to write a series of plans take some of the edge off before going to the O Okay somebody has to write a series of plans towns are legally obligated to have a plan of conservation and development now we're obligated and give to the state a plan
I'm not sure if someone knows there some interference in the background someone so there's an affordable housing plan that has to be written you know so he's going to be doing our affordable housing plan and working on that so th that's kind of the range of of what a planner does okay thank you so much so they are involved in the affordable housing plan too that he does work with that yeah our our previous Consulting planner was a guy named Bill Warner and we actually contracted him directly to write our previous affordable housing plan but as part of this plan of conservation and development that has to be updated so that will be handled by Tai Chi you know we've got a couple other initiatives going that are that will be incorporated one of them is what's called The Vision zero plan and a plan and both of those will be Tai cheese product bened okay does anyone have background noise on like a TV in the
background consensus on surgical approach so thought it best you remove myself is anyone else hearing that I'm hearing yeah I think someone needs to mute themselves please someone's got to mute themselves yeah right I don't know they're talking about medical stuff and operation something the background so that's you please I'm trying sorry I'm trying to get back on the meeting thing here too jealous see it was disrespectful and Reckless oh my go all right we'll give it just a quick minute here for someone to figure out all right trying to get back to where we were take what you teach them and eventually use it against you that's right it become the competition whether we want to admit that or not don't know it's not me no I was trying
sorry I'm trying to get back to the correct screen to see all of you yeah can you still hear me yes yeah yeah okay good sorry we can we can continue I was trying to make sure there was nothing going on in the background but then I lost my zoom screen thing hold on Zoom workplace please come back on I know as a Planning and Zoning member yeah I we we use the planner a lot in our meetings and he also works with the Economic Development commission and talks with people that are interested in doing work in town and possibly open a business in town it's good to have him you know like with that Dollar General came in and people felt like oh my goodness what is this place and if we had had John on at that time which we didn't I don't think he could have been more involved with you know communicating with them finding out what their plans were and maybe changing
the design to fit it better with what they wanted in town there's a lot of things you could do as far as developing and that's what it's called the town planner so we really like having them on there the Planning and Zoning commission okay and then I'm gonna so thank you for that does anyone have any further questions on the town planner nope and the other item Eric I saw on there just to to knock off a quick couple tonight and then probably end for the evening unless there's other questions There Was You I I know that at one point you know you you have Kate sorry you have your administrative assistant sure you know the tax collector does her other you know the job she was hired to do at first when she came to town but then there was you you were going to hire someone else in your office has that happened as far as what do I want to say project manager I think is the term so we've kind of come to terms with somebody on what a contract is going to look like we're hiring a local engineer to oversee the playground you know pickle ball playground lighting and all
the improvements down at the athletic fields and to basically be the town's overseer or and towns rep on that project so that's what that that's what that line item in the budget last year in carrying forward is for is because the reality is I don't have the time to do it and what we're what we're planning on doing is basically the town act as the general contractor on that project instead of subbing it out and hiring a general contractor directly in in this environment we're in today that's an incredible amount of paperwork and so so that's basically why we're doing that because the paperwork mostly will be myself and Chris harkley will be the two people dealing with the paperwork but I don't want to be the person on the ground you know looking at the contractors every day and doing the paperwork I just don't have the time to do it so that was the the goal was to essentially SA sacrifice my having a 19-hour a week admin assistant in exchange for project management Services you know so and that's been good and bad I would say I mean Kate is competent but the reality
is you know her primary job is being the tax collector and she fits admin assistant work in most of the time you know during her workday occasionally out of hours I called her two hours ago and made her go back into the town hall because I'm stuck at home and I needed to get the zoom information and her to set that up for me because I couldn't get out the door because the flipping Amazon truck is still stuck in my driveway so so it's good and bad I definitely feel the loss of you know quite a few hours of assistance that I had previously that I don't have now but what I really need to do is get the project management stuff done no I appreciate that because I know that's been talked about for a couple years and and might as well get these little questions out of the way and
so do you feel like you have so in that role because I know that's a stien role you feel like you have you have enough assistance from none of us work in the town hall or anything like that we can only assume so we've minimized that job or made it smaller but do would that have benefited so she's doing that like you said everybody's making it work I guess but you feel the need to have that you feel like this year would be the year you're filling that project manager position because then that will help you move these projects along and that will be the the only reason we haven't done that up to this point is we're still not through planning and doning and we still don't actually have project approvals and then it's going to take another two or three months to get through the Connecticut you know the Department of Labor and all the state agencies because they're the funding agencies to get final approvals you know
so if we were farther along in the project she would already be hired in working but she's not because you know we're not right you don't need her until you need the person I get that all right pivoting from that I wonder is Chris still on the meeting and I appreciate all the time that Cheryl and Chris have been no I'm sorry she just lost her internet connection she sent me a text so and I don't blame her at all like I didn't expect her to stay this long I can ask you Cheryl actually it's better for you because I know I feel like that's a hardworking department and we appreciate you know everything you've done since you came on
board with straightening out the finance not that there isn't every Department's hard sorry I only know what I know you know so we're so grateful that you came on straightened out the books and have our you know everything's moving forward and then I remember I know that that position you know now that she's not here and I can't talk directly that position is a 30h hour a week position sometimes I feel bad from all that's asked of that position I understand that the person in the position likes those hours and you know doesn't really want to extend the hours but is is the job more you know it's a lot for what she you know for 30 hour week is what I'm trying to say she does payroll she does all the payables she's helping with the spreadsheet what is your thought if you know could that have been an expanded role you might have to have an expanded role if you had a person who was less qualified right I mean when you knew when you know how to do your job you know how to do your job yeah so I mean we could have we we were very lucky to
get Chris she's meticulous if you ask her for something she can get it for you everything's filed the Auditors are happy I'm happy no I remember the two of you we consulted when we when she you know it was great having your input when she was getting hired and I know you thought highly of her and it seems to it's worked out great you know that department seems to be doing well so well because of both of you but I sometimes feel bad I feel like there's so much asked of her but she like you said she does her job she's happy with that thank you thank you for your opinion on that yeah okay I don't want to to does anyone else on the board have anything else they'd like to ask tonight we really really appreciate Cheryl and Chris taking time out of their schedules to join us tonight and we really appreciate you representing the board of Selectmen in this first year of this new system and you joining us and your input and I just wanted to say that but I want to open it up for final questions I'm looking I'm trying to scroll down to see if I see I I can ask for one thing can we Cheryl can Cheryl and Eric I guess can you resend that tab after you guys
take a look at that employee cost tab or whatever or I guess as quickly as you can return the amended or corrected worksheet so that we can all kind of get back and look at the numbers a little more closely yes of course thanks so much and sorry one final one came to me Eric because the people are going to be here and I I can put myself out there but I'm not going to ask in front of them this particular question because I understand unions and Union contracts and everything is set in stone you know I understand that and I I agree with it with these changes that were asked that weren't union g generated like do we automatically have to approve it or do we have some say so in that such as like a promotion or things of that nature when it's you know not contract driven I know that we generally so give me AIC because so there's two things one if it is an elected official that is the board of selectman's decision full not correct sorry that is the board of finances decision Full Stop on salaries for elected officials if it is a a non-elected official it's the board of Selectmen that determines pay in compensation for employees but the board of Finance can certainly fund or defund things you know as you desire and then it's you know then it's my job and the board's job to figure out how to accommodate that okay so you don't get to say ex employee is only going to make you know $16.24 an hour but you can say we're going to fund the building department at this for instance and then you know we we accommodate that however we
can okay but did you follow my line of questioning when a like say a promotion is thought of or brought forward is that automatic or no I mean what so I assume you're probably talking about a public works employee so well because I I put myself out there and and I don't mind you know this is why I'm on the board and I talked about it last week yes with the coming on board for a certain position because that's what was sought at the time you know and then the next year there's a big change already yeah so what happens is you know there is a series a level of experience and a skill
set at each level of maintainer in our budget you know we essentially have three steps we have maintainer one maintainer 2 and maintainer three yeah so a maintainer to is essentially somebody that can successfully operate every piece of equipment Public Works has work independently and handle most most things that Public Works does so ordinarily you know we try try to hire young people for these jobs so we can them as for a long time but the reality is the last two hires we've made we haven't had anybody that met the minimum qualifications to get the job which is the a minimum of having a CDL license and being capable of doing some things apply so we've ended up hiring people that were in fact very experienced operators our last person that we hired as a maintainer one previously worked for the public works department for four or five years full-time and worked part-time for the public works department for another 15 or 20 years as a winter plow driver and the town sub
contracted with that individual as a heavy equipment operator you know for many years so we were able to get somebody that was quite experienced yeah and I I so get that again I try to be really neutral in all of this because I'm a per people person and I get it you know as a union person that had to start at the bottom at a really high skill level already just because I wanted to you know for whatever life reasons people have so you know I don't mind throwing myself in there even though I could have been qualified for like the highest position so I'm just being the voice of the people out there that we
did hire someone that willfully came into a position knowing what it paid knowing what it was and what the town thought they were getting at the time and so when we see a 12 or $133,000 increase you know that's I have to ask the questions because it's not what other towns do they just don't whether you just have to buide your time I'm glad that the town has all these skillful people and they need them and they wanted the two groups of four you know they wanted four guys so I had to ask the question if it's something that we automatically have to just you know I can understand from the town side and management side maybe why they're doing this so I just wanted to know from our role because it's a big chunk if it's something we automatically have to approve of again it's a hard position I'm putting myself out there I'm just being the voice of the people and having being on your side being a manager and having a bunch of Union people that you oversee it'd be hard for me to to see other people not wanting to do the same thing it just creates kind of that kind of thing but I thank you thank you for answering it so the answer to your question is no you don't if you choose not to budget for it
you choose not to budget for it and he doesn't get promoted you can't promote him if the funds aren't there to pay for it so that's your answer thank you yeah yeah thank you moving forward any last questions from anyone I think I'm all set I know we have our regular meeting everyone next Wednesday we'll see those couple departments that we asked Eric for and we'll take it from there does anyone want to make an up and thank you again Cheryl if you're still there I can't see everyone's name we really appreciate your time tonight you're welcome you're welcome okay anyone ready to make a motion to adjourn I'll make a motion to adjourn okay Louise is making the motion to adjourn who's second in Kim I'll second it thank you Kim person thanks everyone one I know it was kind of on the Fly tonight but appreciate all the time and we'll hopefully have Mark back next week when we discuss this further see you then all in bye good night hi all who favor say I hi oh whoops thank you for that I forgot a step that's okay everybody was waving all right peace out