issues. Okay. thank you everyone. We'll call this meeting to order. This is a town of Andover Board of Finance meeting for Wednesday, September 24th. we'll go ahead and recite the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of America to theublic indivisible indivisibley and justice for all.
Okay. Thank you. we'll move in our agenda. First item is public speak. I see Haley. do you have anything you want to bring before the board?
Nothing at this time, but thank you.
Okay. Thank you. And Tess, anything from you for the board?
I'm all set. Thank you, sir.
Okay. And I think Nick is just a community access channel. Is that right?
Correct. Okay. feel free to communicate if you would like. So, okay. Hey, Kim.
Hey, how are you Mark?
Good.
Okay, we'll move on to agenda item three, which is changes or additions to the agenda. Does anybody have any proposed changes or additions to the agenda?
Okay, hearing none, we'll move on to it.
Wait a minute. Sorry, Mark. I was looking down the Should we add schedule try board. Well, you had sent out an email tonight. Can that be an open discussion telling us?
Yeah, we can talk about those topics in open discussion.
Yeah, sounds great. Thank you. That's all.
Okay, we'll go on to town administrators report. Eric, floor is yours.
Okay, so you all saw the packet that I submitted. I just resubmitted the one I gave to the board of selectman. so prior to the town you having the tri board meeting, what I would like to do and get in your hands before that meeting is update the building and grounds report which essentially functions as the five-year capital plan for buildings and grounds. and then also share with you the project summary of where we are and all the active and proposed projects as well as go over the grant master list of everything we have open right now. I can go over some of that information now. I don't know how much time you want to devote to the town administrator's report. or I can just take questions. It's whatever the board's pleasure if you have specific questions.
I always like the format when you go through it, Eric. It's nice.
Okay.
I don't know about the rest of the board.
The highlights. Yeah, I went through it, but Yeah.
Sure. Okay. So, the biggest ticket item right now is the bridge at Bunker Hill. so, the really good news is we are back on track with that project. If any of you looked, the main deck beams are in. They should be pouring the deck slab, which is the thing that sits on top of that. by next week, there's about five sequential concrete pores that each have a you have to pour, then you have to strip the forms, and you have to reform the next one, and you have to pour the next one. So, there's quite a bit of work to do, but the great news is that almost everything right now is in the hands of the contractor himself and his crews, not he's not beholden to beam manufacturers or micro pile installers or anything else. so, that is good. the town and the state DOT put up kind of a uniform front in rejecting the contractor's original proposal which was to repair the defective beams that were manufactured. you know, we told them in no uncertain terms we weren't going to accept them and the state DOT said in all likelihood they would degrade the load carrying capacity of the bridge if we did accept them. So we said thank you
very much. No intention of doing that. they've put a lot of pressure on us. but ultimately I don't think we have any real liability with that. they're obligated to meet the DOT specs on their product and they didn't. So, we have every right to insist that it gets repaired. so, that's back and forth. We had another issue with a one set of testing for one set of the micro piles in the bridge. And for those of you who don't know, the micro piles are what what secures the bridge abutman, which is the thing the main carrying beam sit on down to you know bedrock essentially. And what they do is they drill a series of holes. Each hole is about 6 in in diameter. And they drill them down to the bedrock and then about 6 in into the bedrock. They put a very heavy steel casing all the way down to the bedrock. They put a really massive piece of rebar, a piece of rebar that's like 2 and 1/2 in in diameter down in and then they fill it with grout. One of the grout strength test reports came back low. but you know in speaking with the engineer they
reran the calculations even even assuming that the grout all of the grout was at that kind of very low level and it still passes a structural test. which means there's no structural issues with the bridge. it's one of those items that's massively overbuilt anyway. so it shouldn't affect any the longevity of the bridge. So we're back on track with that. With a little luck, we will be open fully sometime in December with it paved and ready to go. So really happy about that. the second thing is we've gotten to the point where we had a full-blown bid package for the improvements at the Veterans Memorial Field. so the committee had increased their wants a little bit over what we were originally asking for and planning because we secured an additional legislative grant you know from the Connecticut State Legislature through our senator MD Robin. So that allowed us to spend more money on the project than we were initially. so we are planning on using what's called the easy IQC program. And what that is is a pre-bid arrangement that it's something that goes to bid every year competitively through the capital regional council of governments and then other crogs throughout the state piggyback on the capital region's bids. and basically what it is is it's a line by line agreement from the contractor for what they charge for each operation involved in heavy construction. so what it does is it
allows you to get something that's been competitively bid, but during the process of working through the project, the only thing you really have to come to terms with and agree on are what the quantities of each unit step is. So from an administrative standpoint, it makes a lot of sense. generally the state has been very happy with towns using that program because that really speeds up their ability to review the programs and it seems to be pretty cost-effective for the towns. some of you may recall when we did the community connectivity grant program, which was roughly a $300,000 series of projects, that was an easy IQC. and that came in reasonably well under budget. so I think all in all, it's a win for the town. the board of selectman authorized me to sign a contract for that program for the work and authorized the work pending a final response back from the department of economic and community development that because because we added money from a second fund that is
also administered through DEC I have to submit a revised budget. So presuming they authorize the revised budget, I think sometime by the middle of October, we should be signing that contract and getting the work started. we are doing a portion of the work with public works because there are some things in the original bid that I think we can do far more economically than than the contractor just because we have a local public works and we have all the equipment to do those particular tasks. So that's kind of how we're tackling that. That is the kind of next big you know project going other than the branch. I think I mentioned this to the board before but we are moving up the time frame for replacing the Longhill Bridge. if you remember that bridge is a federal local bridge program grant with a grant from the state for something called design managed by state and then additionally it has some additional funds from the investments and jobs act. So that is a fully funded bridge. The reason it got moved up one year is the state is really worried about the federal government pulling the
and potentially fed local bridge funds from the program because they seem to be doing that on a number of things. So they want to get these projects that there aren't major hurdles to doing. They've pushed them up in schedule everything they could. And because that project doesn't require taking and they already have preliminary Army Corps of Engineer approval, that's one that they can push forward. So that's what's happening. The other big concern,
just a quick question, what is the target date for that? If you're saying hopefully the Bunker Hill would be done with, you know, fingers crossed, maybe by December, what what is the target date for I don't have it in front of me. When would the target date to possibly start Long Hill?
we're going to be doing tree trimming November of this year and hopefully utility relocation November and December of this year with a firm date of April 1 for the start of construction. So, Longill Bridge should be closed April 1 for a minimum of eight months.
Thank you.
Yep. Will we make sure that I know that they don't intersect and the traffic doesn't, but will we make sure one project is done just to not have two bridges that might be affected? Well, you said April 1st. Yeah, there's a there's a gap there. You're doing preliminary work before.
Yeah. Yeah. Well, we'll we're really only doing preliminary work to get around the fact that the federal government added a particular bat species to the threatened list. and if we cut trees as part of the grant and as part of the federal fund, once the federal project starts, if we haven't cut trees by then, we have a very narrow window in the middle of April and it will delay the project. So, we're just doing this to get around a particular federal rule which will be costneutral to the town. we do have agreement finally after two and a half years of arguing with them with the Department of Transportation to put in a temporary light at Hendy Road for the period of construction. So, that was obviously a big resident concern that traffic was going to get really backed up when you pushed both of those roads and everybody from the north end of town all down Hendy Road. so that was a big relief. That was a long drawn out argument with the state.
I would assume, Eric, to just turn off the light at Long Hill, right? They're not going to stop traffic anymore there. So, just turn that light off, I would assume.
Well, remember you still have public works, you still have library, you still have
Oh, that's true. Huh.
And you still have the food bank,
church. Yep.
Stupid question. I'm sorry.
Yeah. I think that light will need to remain, but it probably won't turn very often. not nearly as often as it does now.
Yeah, true.
Thank you for getting that done, Eric. I appreciate that. Getting that extra light.
Me, too. I mean, that's my commute every day, too. I've got a
few of us up that end of the Yeah, definitely.
Absolutely. Absolutely. So,
it's already a slow, so it's going to get even slower.
Thank you. Yep. Moving on. Sorry.
No problem. I think tomorrow we're going to sign the final employment letter with the new maintainer too for public works. that I think should work out pretty well for the department. the only issue is we are hiring somebody who has not completed his CDL. the town will pay him the cost for the CDL, but he's agreed to reimburse the town if he leaves town employment in less than two years. So, I think that's kind of fair all the way around. we had an awful lot of applications. but we had very few good candidates. really two. out of a pool of about 60 there were two that we would have considered hiring. But, you know, that's so positive for the town, Eric, because I know in the past that you've said applications that come in, I mean, this is something I'm always, you know, people just aren't looking to work in Andover. again, I know you said they
weren't qualified, but that's we are very competitive in our wages compared to other towns. So, it just proves that people are coming towards Andover. So, great.
I'm not sure I would agree with that statement, but everybody has an opinion. No, I mean that is my opinion on research, but I I know we don't always agree. No problem. But that's positive. 60 applicants. Wow.
Okay. Thank you.
Yeah. But when you take out the bakers and the food service workers and the long haul truckers who can't run we interviewed five. Three of those five we rejected outright.
I got to get you to be positive. We got to see some You had five qualified applicants. Yes. But anyway, thank you.
We had two qualified applicants, one of which agreed to take it.
and you only need one, so I am positive about that.
Yeah.
so that's kind of it for the main administrator's report. I just kind of wanted to go over
follow up after.
Oh, shoot. Go for it.
Well, I don't know. And I again when I was shaking my head earlier I always like to hear your report. I thought you were going to go in deep on something else that you had mentioned like our whole process of the budget. So in part of your administrator's report and I see the two ladies are here today. I don't intend to get into any kind of personnel, you know, situation, but I know that I listened to the board of selectmen meeting and they touched on, you know, there was a topic there and it's in your report that, you know, Tess has rejoined the community center as a director. I, you know, they didn't really, they don't talk about too much. And then I know Haley is here, who I've never met yet, but they're both here tonight. And then I know there was topics about, you know, retaining both employees in a plan. I don't know how much the town is allowed to know as far as, you know, with closed meetings because you had it on an agenda and it's
on our agenda tonight and it obviously is a financial piece. I'm not, you know, how the process wasn't really spoken about. So obviously she I'm only going on the financial piece. So, there was a person that was out of office for a while. Now, she's back in office, you know, which I'm sure she's happy about. Again, I don't know the backends of anything. And then we have a person who was temporarily filling a position.
So, are you planning to talk to us about that, about the financial impact of that? Because I know it came up on the board of selectmen or is that another thing down the road? I just thought that they were both here, so I didn't not that they need to speak, but I only like to say things in front of people, so I want them to know that I heard it at the board of selectmen, but it didn't go into too many details.
Sure. Ultimately, the board of selectman's going to have to make a decision
whether they want to retain both people
and for what number of hours. And that's ultimately a board of selectmen decision.
Of course. Yeah.
that will certainly have financial implications. And at the current staffing level, we would definitely be quite a bit over budget. There's no question about that.
And in the past, not talking particulars, I knew that building was funded with a full-time person and a part-time hourly person. And again, I'm not trying to I'm just asking the question as a town resident, too. Like if I've tuned into a meeting and it was on an agenda item, you know, there hasn't been too much shared with the town except for, you know, a couple things. So I mean yeah
the the board made their decision after discussion in that executive session and I'm not
right
you know I don't have the authority to to say what was what their rationale was or or what logic they used in executive session that is that is a board decision that's that's not an Eric decision
and I want to tell people that might see this meeting or listen to this meeting I am in no you know I'm neutral I'm happy with whatever decisions are made. I'm sure there was a process, but I think they deserve to to know just a little bit of clearly. So, thank you. I just saw the two ladies here. I would never speak behind their back. I want them to hear that I'm, you know, hopefully it'll work out for the best for the town and, you know, people can be positive moving forward. But whatever happened, it will be a result of an additional funding to the town because of whatever happened. So that's it. Thanks. If that's all you can share with us, it was just on your report. It was an agenda item that the board of selectmen did not discuss too much at the thing. So, thank you.
Correct.
Okay. so in terms of current grants that we have active, we have a grant for the senior transportation hub. That was originally a $275,000 grant and the town agreed at town meeting to match that with $75,000. we've got through most of the background administrative stuff which is basically getting through Shipo the state historic preservation society. We made a decision to use the easy IQC program for that also after the board of selectmen had asked to redesign that to include full second floor storage because as many of you know one of the things we really lack as a town is dry storage. and there's lots of boards and commissions that, you know, need space to store stuff from the wreck commission, to the library who has a storage facility at Andover Self Storage, to the CIR team, you know, with with, emergency operations supplies, all of that stuff. So, we we used the EZIQC program. we got an initial bid or a or initial contract amount and document. and before we were going to commit anywhere near the kinds of funds to do that, I wanted to see a final structural design number one, so we knew what kind of loading the second floor could actually accommodate.
And the second thing is, you know, I want a visual design because this is going in a neighborhood on Center Street and I want it to make the neighborhood look better, not worse. So, we signed a basically $12,000 design contract with them, which will come off the cost of the construction because they would have had to done the design anyway. and so once we get that back, we'll reassess what the the total cost of the project is, but it is likely to be more than the 275 plus 7, you know, 75,000. there's no question it's going to be probably closer to a half a million once we deal with the speestatement and demo of the existing structure. probably 475,000 is a more realistic plus a contingency. So, if we're going to do that without going back to the town money, we the town for more money, which I don't think anybody really wants to do, then we would probably be looking at spending low funds, which we do have available. and and that will be a discussion for the board of selectmen, possibly the board of finance. that's between the boards how they wanna whether they want to go back to town meeting to discuss it or how they want to proceed with that. So that's one project. I I would really like to get that to construction in the spring. that grant's now three years old. Unfortunately, construction costs have gone up a lot in three years. but I think that's still a very worthwhile program for the town to do. and if we do it correctly, we are still talking about spending, you know, $75,000 worth of town money. you know, and
roughly $400,000 worth of state money to do it. So, it's still a pretty good investment on the towns. I talked a little bit before about the 2023 steep grant for recreational improvements. That was a half million dollar grant that we got a $150,000 town match at town meeting. and subsequently we have received a legislative appropriation for this fiscal year for $250,000 for additional recreational improvements. So that allows us to spend $750,000 of state money on that and still keep the the $150,000 town match which will be partially services in kind and partially actually cash. Probably we're going to end up spending around $135,000 and the rest will be labor by public works. we also received a $10,000 Hartford Foundation for Public Giving to help out with the costs of that. So we're anticipating it being somewhere around a $910,000 project. and of that $910,000, $150,000 is Andover taxpayer dollars. So again, it's an expensive project. they had big goals for it, but it's mostly state funded, so that's good. the two large bridges over the Hop River, those both both are ultimately 100% funded by state and federal dollars. Those are not actually taking any taxpayer dollars to do, which is huge because those are all, you know, between four and $5 million projects. So, it's nice not to have to pay even a portion of those. we had talked before about the issues with the bridge and the fact that we have to pay the contractor and then get wait to get reimbursed by the state of Connecticut. we are
currently out about $900,000 awaiting reimbursement for the state. So, we had about a million dollars combined between the Bunker Hill Bridge fund and the bridge and culvert fund. So, we've tapped both of those and, you know, we've already requested reimbursement from the state. we've already spent and got reimbursed about, you know, close to a million dollars so far. it's just that the time when they delivered the bridge, the main carrying beams, that's a super expensive. So, we knew this was going to be the crunch month. and we did get it under a million dollars, so we didn't have to tap the unencumbered fund balance. So, I think overall we're pretty good on that project, but that's the fact that we're that far out of pocket does make me a little nervous. we talked about both bridges. we do have a lot, which is local transportation capital improvement planning grant of around $2.9 million. that's hanging out there. so as many of you would remember, two years ago, we asked for and got a legislative study grant of $100,000 to, figure out the best way to connect the municipal campus to the rail trail and ultimately the library and recreational fields. so we got a $100,000 grant. We used that for preliminary data and to apply for two other grants both of which we got amazingly enough. And then we used the access money for most of the design for the multi-use pathway that runs down school road and then Route 360 and Cider Mill. the problem is we're probably around $100,000 short in finishing off that grant. and the lot set funding that we have pays for 100% of the cost of the actual construction and the easements, you know, in any
rightaway acquisition and all the physical costs of building. but it does not pay for us to finish the study. So, one of the things I'm going to be asking out of the board of finance and I should have a final design number from that from the contractor or what it will take to finish the design is the money to finish the design so we can get that and proceed forward into construction which will probably be in a year or two. so that is coming up
question. So, this might have gone over my head, but so you're saying that we have enough grant money to actually build the project complete the the trail project, but not enough money to finish the mapping out of it or am I
Yeah, the design of the project.
So, yeah,
the way a lot of state grants work, they come in one of two flavors. either they will pay for a set percentage of the total project cost or they will agree to pick up the design cost depending on the grant or they'll agree to pick up the construction costs. The lot program pays for the complete construction cost of the project. That's why it's such a soughtafter grant to get
because a it's you know you can get a lot of money out of them for pretty significant projects and b you know it pays it does not require a town match. The problem with those grants is the town is on the hook for all the design and engineering costs upfront. and which is why I went after the study grant initially because I wanted to fund as much of the design costs as I could because I knew I was going to try to use lots of funding for the actual construction. And then if the town lect in in the the second part of that is we also then applied for the DEP wreck trails funding to do a design that goes through the woods from the town hall
along the old Percy Cook trail hiking trail to the rail trail in part because it'll make a nice cool couple mile loop trail. and it's probably ou know, it's a lot more scenic than just riding down Route 316. So, one, the one down 316 is better for ADA accessibility. The other one is, you know, more natural and more scenic. so we went different tracks with those and and the goal really is to get enough money to finish the design. So could because we have construction funds through through lots and then use the other grant which the which is will pay for the design for the second trail and then go back to lots and see if I can lots of fund that because by the time because I have a grant now to do the finished design for that one. If I can supply lots funding for construction then I will have done the program. I will have done that path without spending any town dollars, which is always the objective.
Eric, quick question. Is there a expiration date on that? I mean, I know that's a big undertaking, that 316 project that you're talking about.
I Is there an expiration? I mean, the town just has so many things going on and only so many people to oversee them. I mean, I know it's it's out there, but can we delay it a little bit to not have
I think if we work really hard, we would be in construction on the actual construction on that in four to five years.
Oh,
this is not something we're going to be doing next year. you know, that 100,000
that makes me feel better. I didn't know. Right. you still have all the pieces to put together and yeah I know one of the drawbacks you know from going to the meetings and and educating ourselves on it did we get permission from all the land owners it would affect I mean I know that's part of your thing right has that
so we talked to
landowner
elated to that project
because there about six of them I think that would be affected or something
yeah there's not many addressed all their concerns. Yeah.
In the initial document we got back from DOT,
DOT gave us an initial round of comments on it. They pushed back against a couple things. so we will have to go back to the homeowners, but we're not at a point yet, you know, we've got to get farther along in the design stage.
Yeah. before we have enough final pathway information to do it. the great thing about fully funding construction on this is it gives us the ability that program you can build in aesthetic elements to the design. So, I think we can leave every single affected property owner aesthetically a lot better off after the trail than they are now. So, I think our goal really is to work with them all one on-one to ensure we, you know, we satisfy what they need to get out of the project for them to feel comfortable to let it go forward.
no, thank you. Those were my concerns. I didn't, you know, having so many things. You said four or five years out, you of course you have to get all the permissions. No, that makes sense. Thank you.
Yep. And by the way, I've been working on this particular project since 2015. So, that's one of those things where if you can pull it off in, you know, 15 years, that would actually be pretty good. for a small town like us, it's not something that comes quickly. I talked about the D recreck trails grant. That's the other big one. In terms of other things that we have funding hanging out right now, we have a grant in for a new handicapped accessible van. that was submitted in the spring of 2025. We should get notified sometime this fall, late fall, whether we got it or not. I think it's unlikely that we're going to get it on the first application. you know, there's just too many people applying for it. That's the kind of thing you apply for, you know, two or three years before they finally decide, your turn is up. so I'm not anticipating that we get
that. if we did, it would require a 20% match. so that would have to go to town meeting and we'd have to go to town meeting to accept it, but you know, we'd get a replacement for our van, which is kind of falling apart. you know, so it's something we need to do at some point. Anyway, the second thing is we still have a request to the federal government for money to complete the community center and to add a backup generator to the town hall. again, that got approved by the Senate finance committee. it's the second year in a row they've approved funding for us. but last year they didn't fund any federal appropriations. so even though, you know, it was a project that the Senate was in agreement with, they didn't fund it. So, we submitted that through Senator Murphy's
office. as you know, since there are starting to talk about a government shutdown at the federal level, I think the likelihood of them passing a budget in October, you know, I would anticipate a bunch of continuing resolutions. And if you look at the continuing resolution that failed, but that they were pushing, it didn't have any legislative appropriations in it. So, I think there's a reasonable chance that we won't know one way or the other till sometime in next March whether that is funded. if that is funded, that would be about $310,000, which would leave us about $150,000 short of completing the project. we do have that money in the multi-use BIS building fund that's already designated for that. So, we could provide our match pretty readily to get that project moving. if we slow rolled it a little bit next July we will have another
$250,000 legislative appropriation from the from the state which we could potentially use for that too. So that you know we'll if we get that we'll have a couple different options to fund that. If we don't get that, we're likely to end up using the town money and adding the state money to it and do as much of that program as we can. Ideally, probably the generator first because that's one of our biggest needs right now. and that's it from me on that unless you have other questions related to grants or buildings or or anything else.
Next question. Is there are these grants all listed on the town website somewhere? Like because obviously I'm not going to sit here and write all these notes out. Is there someplace where we can go and see like the list of all the stuff that you were talking about or is that in that big
I mean I will send you
a grants an updated grants master list file. I'll send that to the board of finance. I was planning on doing it because
yeah I haven't updated in about six months. But yeah, I will I will give you that. So you have
Yeah, it's a lot and to sit here and write the criminos painful. So thank you.
Yeah. Yep. Not a problem. Other questions for me related to that or any other topic.
Eric, just a followup to Liz's question. Sorry, Kim. If if we do that, if you send that to us, will it have the town match listed on like a spreadsheet? I was don't don't make work for yourself. I just wondered if the
it is. Thank you because I mean I know a lot of the things have passed and we'll say there's 150 or smaller, you know, 20 and Thank you. That's good. Yeah, that's a good thing.
Yep.
Question.
Jim, you had a question.
no, just a couple of comments. First of all, Eric, thank you. Sounds like you have grants going on for the next 15 years. Oh wow. and I I just wanted to like comment with Liz there. I when I started on the board of finance, one of the things I had hoped to do is have a spot on the town of Andover website where we listed our grants, all departments within the town. I thought that would be great. And I've realized while I've sat here and listened that that's probably far too big of a project to take on. So I get it. But I I get what Liz is saying too. It is it's it's a lot to try to write it all down and etc etc. But thank you very much for your update tonight.
Yeah, I'll I'll give you so I I'll give you in the next week essentially three documents. One is the master grant list. the second is the updated for lack of a better term, it's the CIP report on town buildings and properties, which is essentially as functioned as a five-year capital plan. although to be honest, you know, we've gotten so much done with the town's buildings that the majority of things we really needed to accomplish, a real significant fraction of them are done. so what I'm going to do is basically list out everything that still hasn't been done. And what I tried to do is I tried to assign two things to each recommendation and that is some kind of code which says why we want to do it. Is it because of energy efficiency, comfort, longevity or is it related to public safety? And then a priority. So you can kind of look at where my thoughts are, not only on what we need
to do, but what is the most important to think about as we go into budgeting. But the great news when you look at the document is if you compare this to what I gave to the board in say 2020, we've knocked off a huge number of the big projects that we have. so the good news is, you know, it's not that big a list that we have to we have to think about. So that's good. you know, I'm pretty happy with that. And then, that is pretty much it. The master grants list and the CIP report will get you most of the information. And then I have a kind of a projects list also which is all the projects building projects that are underway or recently completed. And with that I list what the funding sources is for all those so you can see where the money flows into for these projects. right.
But yeah, there's a lot going on and we've,
you know, we've tracked down somewhere north of $14 million in grant funding in the last six years, which for a small town is is pretty awesome.
So,
thank you for your explanation.
Yep. Hey, any other questions for Eric on his report?
Thanks again, Eric.
Yep. Thank you. It's helpful. There is a lot of detail. So yeah, the summaries will be appreciated. I know we've had things like that before. Been a while. Okay. So I think we can go on to old business. The first one is the review of the budget to actual. We're pretty early in the year. I didn't see anything unusual. Eric, is there anything we should be looking at there? Any concerns?
sure. nothing that's a showstopper at this point. so the one thing that will be an issue, and it won't be an issue in this year's budget, would it would be an issue in next year's budget, is the board of selectman did agree to increase the hourly wage for the assistant town clerk. the reason that's not an issue right now is because by the time November, the earliest we would be hiring a town clerk probably is January 1. Half the year is already done. so our total expenses for the town clerk's you know, office for this year are going to be reasonably under. So we have no budgetary issues there, but there will be the effect of an increased hourly wage for the next year's budget. So I'm just letting
one follow. Thank you on that. Is that because that's a unionized position. So there was like anou that the board of selectmen went through. I don't need details just No, thanks.
No, that's in you know, you can get thatou if you want.
Oh, yeah. I'm not You said that the board of selectmen agreed to raise it and I happen to know it's a union position. So which are usually posted. No, just clarification. Thanks.
Yep. if you look under 4214 which is community center given this current staffing levels, there is not enough budgeted for both individuals for the community center director and assistant. So, if the board of selectmen does choose to keep both employees in place, which I it sounds like they're leaning on doing, then we're going to need to find a a source of funding for that extra salary. So, I'm just giving you a heads up on that. the other thing that and so if you went down to the public works we're going to be definitely under on public works salary this year because we will have gone at least two months where we were short two of the five employees. so we're pretty close to a final contract with a public works supervisor. we're not announcing who that is yet. because the board of selectmen would have to agree to a contract for that and then that individual has to resign from where they're working now. we're also probably tomorrow we will be onboarding a new public works employee. So that's good.
you know, again, we're
sorry,
I'll let you I don't want to interrupt till you're no follow-up question. Does Does the town when they have those those individual contracts, is there a probation period written in?
the for the person that's going to be in the union, there's there's automatically a sixmonth probationary period. there is not for somebody who's a professional. I did work with the labor attorney to make sure that the employment contract for the person that will be running public works. there's more flexibility built into that one than necessarily we've had in the past, you know, but it's it's touchy because most people who are jumping from a secure position to something new, you know, they want an actual multi-year contract before they're going to consider it. So,
right,
I think we made a reasonable compromise.
Good. I just know that our town the history we've had a lot of problems you know where it's been a situation. So I mean obviously you learn as you go. That's not my role here but it financially impacts the town. You know when one contract doesn't go through and then there's multiple employees in the spot or that's all. So I wondered if from the outside looking if they've decided to upgrade it just to protect the town a little bit so that when these contracts don't go or don't work or an employee leaves or they come back you know that it's just protecting the funding. That's all the financial part. So thank you for your answer to that.
Understood. the next thing that was so as you remember we've been doing brush piles basically every three years at the transfer station. So for two years there will be zero expense for the line item and then it jumps up to a big number. we actually waited about three and a half years this year and at the same time we put a lot of the the town because they to save cost has been switching away from distinctive tree care and using a a another tree service, but we end up doing more work to get rid of the extra wood which they'd been dumping at the transfer station. So, the long and the short of it is, you know, we had a much bigger pile than we anticipated when it actually came time
to chip it. The cost was more than $20,000. but we spent the extra out of the tree budget. because that's really what it was. It was in part savings from using a different tree contractor. so that's done. That's so we'll take $20,000 from the brush pile and we'll take the rest from the tree care permanent fund. So I'm just kind of letting you know that that's occurring. we've also been short on senior transportation drivers for a while. we're very fortunate in that we've gotten two new drivers in you know with you know with their F endorsements. So we we're basically back up to full staff with senior transportation. So we were definitely under budget on what we were spending for senior transportation but that was in part because we weren't able to provide rides to everybody who wanted one. So happily we're back up to full staff for that.
it is early in the year. That's really I have all everything I have in terms of budget to actual unless you have specific questions about line items for me.
I don't have any questions but I'm just curious. Do you feel like now you are staffing the senior transportation properly? Do you have enough? Is that going okay?
Yes. Right now we have we have four drivers. So we have enough capacity to meet all the demand we have. We only have four vehicles. So, you know, but it allows us to mix and match and cover for people. You know, we had some significant periods this summer where, you know, when you're down to two drivers and one of them's on vacation, you know, you can't cover a senior lunch and add a medical trip or multiple medical trips. So,
so we we ended up,
you know, having to refuse some requests we'd rather not have done,
right? Especially
we're back to full staff. We're happy there.
Good. Thank you.
Okay. Anything else for Eric before we move on?
Next item is check register. I don't know if anybody has any question on that. It's basically look like standard stuff. I don't see anything unusual. I would have asked about no questions there. There was another item that said 5C donation request, but there's no supporting documentation there. I'm not sure what that's about, Eric. Do you know?
Yeah. so that was listening to your last meeting you had wanted to continue a discussion on how donations were handled. I wasn't at that meeting but that's it said that I wasn't either kind of left on the schedule.
We had that whole discussion last meeting about you know we had got the town was getting a donation and it was a question of
can the town accept that where does it go? does it what account does it go you know how do we handle that and it ended up being a little more complicated I think than anybody figured going in so I thought we'd table it and continue the discussion but I don't think we're really prepared to do so tonight so maybe we just leave it on there for the next meeting
was at our meeting right and Cheryl talked to it and explained to oh gosh I can't think of her name right now
Diane Diane Grener who was you know very interested in it so she went through all the steps So all of us were, you know, educated on it that it is a lot. You just can't. So it was nice that Cheryl was there for that. But Cheryl was going to follow up with a couple notes and then talk to the auditor. I didn't get any information. so she might have reached out to the auditor to find out if they can create this account or whatever. And if it's
he was going to ask the auditor's opinion, right? She was gonna ask the auditor's opinion because
there's really no way to to set this up. There's no easy way. And Cheryl tried to explain the process and how it's not so cut and dry
and
because you have to have it over,
right?
Yeah. And so with these little bitty amounts, it's it's a lot for the treasurer to manage all these little bitty amounts. And Cheryl agreed to go back to to see to get the opinion of the auditor because she feels that the auditor would not think it's a good idea either. But she agreed to get their opinion and obviously we haven't heard back from her. So we we don't know the answer to that. I think we just agreed to keep it on the agenda in case so it's not forgotten about.
Sure. I I would say in my annual discussions with the auditor, Mike brings up the number of little funds and accounts the town has and bank accounts relative to the size of the town. yeah. And and I also know that,
you know, small funds with small dollar amounts,
I would bet there's a lot of little funds we have that we spend more time having Cheryl reconcile them and do financial statements for them than we make in the funds, you know, and and I don't have a solution because I don't want to discourage you know, organizations from seeking small grants. I mean, that's a wonderful thing for the town, but on a lot of these things, even the Norton funds, I often wonder whether the town would be smarter to just write a check, you know, to the Norton Commission for 15 grand every year out of the general fund and then not have to deal with any of the fund accounting for, you know, all the little pockets of money they have. Not a
popular opinion, but you know, there's there's a cost to these that we have to keep in mind.
That's basically what Cheryl said.
Exactly.
Yeah. Mark, I suggest we just wait until we get more info from Cheryl, but it was enlightening, you know.
Yeah, it makes sense. Yeah, I remember some of the discussion preliminary stuff. So, good.
It was like $2,500. I think she wanted to donate. Was that right?
Something like that. Yeah, it was
only $25 she wanted to donate and
I think she wrote a check to the town for $1,000 and that's just the holder because what she's done is she's donated the money to the Hartford Foundation for public giving and they invest it and the dividends from that or the interest from that will get transferred to the town on an annual basis to be spent under her account. So the town has to have its own account, you know, for the Hartford Foundation to transfer money into on an annual basis. so that's really where the even though the town's not holding much of the money, it's a bigger bequest, but we're only getting the interest from
that request available to fund.
Okay. Well, let's leave it there then. Agree makes sense. So
yeah.
Okay. Okay. So, if we move on to new business 6A is the update on the fire department squad truck purchase.
So, we finally got the paperwork completed after a halfozen rounds with the bank and making the first blackman come in to sign paperwork on at least four different occasions. a little embarrassing on my part, but the vehicle has been paid for. The town has made the first payment to Mnt Bank for it. It's set up for essentially automatic withdrawal from our general fund to the bank to pay the annual payments. the truck is in the fire department. and we still need to finalize the paperwork to you know assume control over it, but that's proceeded pretty well.
Good. progress.
Slow progress, but progress.
Any questions for Eric on that?
Eric, you said it was in our firehouse. You said,
"Yes, it is."
Wow. Okay.
Should have a tour.
At the steak dinner, you could have if you looked outside in the middle was the new squad vehicle.
I missed that this year. Okay. So, we'll move on to item 6B. This is to schedule the tri board planning meeting. So, Liz had graciously agreed to help organize some polling of the potential or all the board members. Liz, did you come to a clear consensus on when that should be scheduled?
yeah, I didn't hear from everybody. but the con the agreed date for the people that did respond is October 15th, which is Wednesday. Mark wasn't available on Thursday, which is actually after the 15th anyway. So, that's not a preferred date. and the somebody on the board of ed could not do Monday, but everybody that responded responded yes to the 15th. So, my recommendation is that we have it on October 15th at 7 o'clock and I'm happy to send an email out to all the boards to let them know that if if you'd like me to do that.
Well, let's make a motion and schedule it then, I say. All right.
Can I just ask question in person or virtual? Number one. And where do you want to hold it?
I think an in-person meeting would be nice only just to get everybody together in a room, but I don't know how other people feel about I know it's not as convenient. Mark, once we schedule it, are we going to open it for discussion for particulars of it? Is that what we're gonna do?
We certainly can, but we don't need to. I think we can
those
I think we we can just agree kind of on what the agenda is. We can set the agenda outside of the scheduling. you know, it's pretty straightforward. If you read the if you read the charter language, it's straightforward, but it's also it's not it's fairly open. It just says to set the goals and objectives. for the meeting. in fact, I had it opened. Let me see if I can get that up real quick again.
The goals and objectives of the budget year, something like that, right?
scroll, scroll, scroll. I found it here.
Duties in the budget. no later than October 15th, the board of finance shall confer with the board of selectment and the board of education to discuss the goals and objectives for the upcoming budget. Board of Finance may suggest a target for expenditures for both the general government and the board of education budgets. However, the target shall not be binding with respect to budget submittals. So, that's the extent of the language regarding this meeting. So, what I would think we probably want to do is couple of things. one kind of lay out a preliminary or work out a preliminary schedule, you know, first of medals, etc., you know, as we've kind of done in the past, although not quite this early typically. and then the goals and objectives might be, you know, the the objectives to keep the keep the budget as low as possible. but you know we as a board can recommend that you know we you know recommend that we
keep it no more than a you know two to 3% increase or you know push a number on there what you want flat you know reduce the budget whatever you know we as a board want to recommend. I think it'll be a little tough for us to, you know, well, maybe it's not tough, but I think that I don't think it would be a bad idea for us to say, you know, I think we should target no more than x% increase in any area any, you know, if you do this, then you need to come up with very strong justification as to why that would be.
And we did hold a meeting. We did have a trio board meeting. Obviously, it was after the fact last year because all of this came into play. So this is the very first year we can go so early and follow the timeline. so we have precedent of trying to have this meeting last year with the goals and all of that. yeah
I think the goals of the other tri board meeting have been more about communication and interaction. How do we work together?
I think this one is
definitely still needed I guess.
Yeah. So,
so this one's specific, but I do if since we're talking about it and then setting the date, I mean I think there's been a lot of confusion with different people sending out emails and I applaud Liz for taking this on and you know gathering all the information and you know trying to pull the boards and it's unfortunate that when someone does that you don't always get a lot of response but I've had that history too as far as sending out multiple emails and you know there's still some board members that I still haven't even received one response back from. But most people hopefully did get back to her. But my point being I think this email of putting this together should come from either the board chair or the vice chair just to avoid confusion. You guys can all talk to that if you don't agree.
Yeah, I think you're probably right. I mean it is a formally required. getting a little bit confusing for people within town getting all kinds of emails from different people or different organizations. I don't mind saying this in the you know it's it's nothing against a you know no one wants more work to do but I'd be happy to send out the email once the date is selected. I think it probably needs to be more than an email. Actually, thinking about it, it probably makes sense for it to be a formal letter as we've done in the past for certain things and then,
you know, we just send it to the chairman of the board of ed and chairman of the board of select men and copy everybody
or Yeah.
I agree. I just think it I mean there's a reason people whatever happens in the future is fine, but I think
Yeah.
got to kind of rein that in a little bit. I know it's going to be talking about it later. Everybody's welcome to send out everything, but as you know, we're going to be just
Yeah, I I think I think this is a formal communication, so I would I think that that does make sense that we would have it.
we're following a charter rule. So,
yeah.
Yeah.
Kim,
I just Liz, I want to say thank you to you for sending that out and trying to get the group together. can we appoint a moderator for the meeting? I think last time it was, was it Jed?
Jed Larson.
And then I think that it's ideal that we have this meeting in person, possibly offer a virtual link, Eric, if someone requests it, just so that they're not excluded. that's just my personal opinion, but I do want to say thank you, Liz, for trying to get this large group of people together
and I I like the idea.
People don't always respond to you, Liz, with the work you put in.
It's okay.
Well, it's not if you're elected by the town and you're on a board,
you need to respond to things if you know.
Yeah,
that's I but
thank you for your efforts, too. I appreciated seeing it. I knew it was coming up quickly
and and I agree. I like the idea of doing it in person with the option for whoever
can't make it in person.
so that would mean the options would be what, Eric? Either the grammar school or would would the senior center be able to accommodate something like that? Is it set up for that or not yet?
it could. We could simply move the the owl projector over to the community center or we could do the community room now that the sound attenuation panels are in. That works okay for hybrid meeting. Certainly better because the acoustics are better in the room.
It's not great, but it's not bad.
The community room or the community center? room.
I would
probably go for the community room. but you, if you decided you wanted to do the community center, you could set that up for it. It's the same equipment in either room and they both have the sound attenuation panels. It's just normally that stuff stays set up in the community room, not the community center. I feel like the table setup, like Bill said, worked out great the year we had it in the community room. It just seems like the space accommodates a bigger square around. But
yeah, and I I don't expect we're going to have really any public participation to speak of. So, I don't think the capacity is going to be a big issue for something like this.
Just a guess.
Yeah.
And we don't have to decide tonight, honestly. We can we can plan for that and then if something comes up we can we can change as long as we post it.
Yeah, good idea.
Y
but I but I do think we want to make a motion to hold it that date 7 o'clock. It was a proposed in-person meeting. You know this is I think implication is that this is a board of finance it is
a le meeting. so you know, if we wanted to hire a mo or hire select a moderator, we could, but you know, my advice would just be to keep it simple and have the board run it like we do our normal meetings. We'll post an agenda and, and try to, you know, go through it in that way. most of it was going to be open discussion. you know, with, you know, potentially some proposed dates. Eric, maybe that's something that you could come up with if if you have the time. If you don't, fine. You know, we can we can take a look at something to to do that. but you know we come up with some proposed dates for for the budget schedule and see if we can get agreement on that date and then if the board of finance has a particular target budget amount for for the budgets this year then we can you know make that known. Bill,
just going back to the tri board meeting, we we had it last year with with Jed as someone pointed out with these particular boards that are going, I think there's a need for a moderator in my opinion so that you have, you know, where there's discussions, but he kept things on track and kept people from getting too out of control. As you know, there was there's a lot of still some animosity between the town, the board of ed, the this board, that board. Just in my opinion, it worked out nice having a moderator last year. I don't know how well that meeting would go without someone reigning it in. But I'll leave that to everybody else's decision, but I was there and I just I really
I agree, Bill.
I was there, too.
I I just think without some control things could get kind of wild. But I also I agree with you.
No, I agree with you, Bill. Oh, I was there as well.
Yeah.
But I also don't want somebody there to shut down somebody's speech, you know what I mean? And I know Jeb was great and no, he was he was very good.
that's shut down speech. I don't think any moderator would do that. admirer just make sure that everybody kind of sticks to the rules, doesn't hog the meeting, doesn't shut some nobody shuts somebody else down by overtalking them. It's everybody gets to say their piece. That's I think the beauty of a moderator. But that's all sand.
Yeah. No, I don't disagree.
The beauty of a good moderator or somebody there needs to be a firm hand in this meeting and I think the meeting it's targeted. It has a very specific agenda. I do not think we should stray from that agenda. you know, as much as we may need more interaction and discussion between the boards, I think that this one has a very specific purpose and should be, you know, we should stay laser focused on that purpose. so from that perspective, you know, I I I'm okay either way. If if the if you guys think that it works better with a with a moderator, I'm okay with that. If you think it's, you know, we just want to run it ourselves, I'm okay doing that either. I don't have a problem running the meeting and you know hurting the cats as you will you know as chair but I'm also totally okay with deciding that it would be more productive to have a to have an an independent moderator. We could certainly do that.
You won't break my heart. It's going to be the first one that we've had and having the specific agenda. He really did just kind of honor the agenda, I think, and move it along. And he would only
interrupt when needed be when there were a few people that do tend to, you know, take it over and, you know, so I'm on the fence, too. I would hope and I that people can be mature and this like you said is a very specific budget related tri board meeting with us. Yeah. But there's been a lot of stuff going on still and recently like Bill said. So we're hitting the time when it's still all flowing. So possibly Jed would be a great person to just invite and have him and Mark you could I I don't know. Yeah. I just I want it to stay on track and just do the specific purpose that it's supposed to do.
Yeah, I think we should insist on that.
Yeah.
So, somebody want to make a motion? I'll make a motion to set the date for the meeting, October 15th at 700 p.m. to be held at the town community center with the option of adding video.
Community center or community room?
Community room. I thought we were doing community.
I'm sorry. Community room.
At the town hall. Second
at the town hall.
Okay. So, Liz makes a motion. Rob seconds. further discussion.
All those in favor say I.
Any opposed?
Any abstensions? Hearing none. I think we're good. Okay. Well, getting back to this. we will not have an opportunity to meet before that. Do we want to set some type of target increase percentage that you know we we would advise the boards not to exceed?
Yeah, that was my next question because I was just going to say that we're not going to meet again. How do we
think we would have to do it now?
Got to do it now.
We get out of that conversation now.
You know, we don't have to. we can simply say, you know, you better keep any increases low or non-existent, which is kind of how I personally feel about it, but you know, and and leave it in general terms. Or we could say, you know, you need to keep it at or below the you know, the rate of inflation. I mean, we all know that.
I was just thinking inflation, but
well, there are contracts and I don't know how the contracts affect things. we would have to look at that. but you know, certainly that's, you know, from the standpoint of the taxpayers unless we have a really good reason. I don't see any reason we should be doing that much more. But, you know, there may be projects, there may be specifics that need to get brought in into the budget and that's fine. Like said, this is just advisory on our part.
Yeah.
If we choose to do it, we don't have to.
Probably always a smart idea to ask people to come in, you know, as low as they can, but I think I thought this meeting was for them to tell us their projects or their thoughts. So, I'd have to look back at the format and what the charter said. clearly others that I thought might speak up at this point aren't, but, you know, I I think it's always a smart idea to hopefully keep, you know, budgets as low as you can. the town can only absorb so much and that's just a suggestion you know people are going to come in but that's my thought on it since you asked Mark
I agree I agree it should be as but but what I think is as low as you can is not going to be the same thing that another department is going to their low is not going to be my low you know what I mean
right
so I kind of like the target idea But
well, setting a target, Liz, kind of gives you the opportunity when we're going through the budgets to be able to say, "Okay, this is where everybody came in. This people tried to stay in those limits. These people seem to be way out here." You know, it kind of gives you something to look at each budget and say, "We asked people to do 1.5 or or, you know, whatever." Smart.
And it helps you to look at each one of those budgets as they come in. having a a number in there. You could just go in and say flat, whatever you wanted to do, but it's nice to have some kind of
I'm happy to see a target. I'm happy to like let's call it a number. Let's say we want to see our budget no more than 1.5% increase next year.
Yep.
I'd vote for that.
Yeah, I would too.
Like I mean, do
you want to make a motion that the board propose that as their target increase amount? Chairman,
I'll make a motion that we ask for the budgets to come in at no higher than 1.5%
increase.
Correct.
I second that.
Okay. So, just for discussion, do we have any more discussion on that? I mean, it's an aggressive target. It may not, you know, it's gonna it may be challenging in some areas, but I think we
did okay with the budget last year.
Yeah, it's a target, right? It's it's just a target.
It's a target. They if if for some reason it's not possible, the reasons are presented to us and
Right.
Yep. And then we talk about it.
Yep.
Yeah. That's smart.
Yeah.
Okay.
Any other comments? All those in favor say I.
Any opposed? Any abstensions? Okay. Hearing none.
So I I don't think we need to necessarily communicate that in advance. Obviously, this is a public meeting, so it'll be out there. U but what we'll do is I'll write a letter just informing the the board of Sacramento and the board of education of the date and time for the meeting and location. I'll I'll send this all to you to take a look at in advance and just state that the general object I'll just restate the charter language and just say that our our our you know objectives for the meeting are to have an overall discussion of the budget process. propose a a calendar of events so that people have a general idea what the schedule should be and come to some agreement about about the process and the board of finance may suggest that you know the target but we don't necessarily need to state that in the letter we can discuss it when we get there.
That sound okay?
Thank you.
Fair.
Perfect.
Eric, very fair. I was just going to say too, one thing that I'm not empowered to do as an administrator, but my fellow town managers do every year with RAM. and I brought this up with the board of finance to see whether you wanted to do it in previous years is do the same thing with the RAM board of ed and give them a target and say, "Hey, tough fiscal times. We would really like to see you guys bring the RAM budget in at X, you know, no more than X increase. you know, Andy Tyranny used to ask me pretty much every year to go in on that with him and Malber's first selectment on sending that to him. And I always said, I'm technically an
administrator. I don't have the legal authority to because I don't, you know, I'm not a town manager. So, but that is something you could consider.
Yeah, good point. Yeah, you have brought that up before.
Yep.
So, separate task worth keeping in mind.
Be proactive. Absolutely.
Yeah. Yeah. Put it out there.
You really have nothing to lose by doing that, right? So,
Exactly. Exactly.
How do we How do we go about doing that? Well, I think that I think that that's basically the same thing we just did, you know, that we we proposed that you know, we agree on a a target amount that we recommend the RAM budget board of ed come in with their as their budget increase and then we draft a letter and send it to them. You know, it's non-binding. Of course, all this is non-binding, but it's just so we have agreement as a board formally
start. Yeah,
we could do it now. we could do it, you know, we could wait until we have a new board convened after the elections. It's probably I don't know if it's early enough in their their process or not. I don't know enough about the RAM process, budgeting process. we do in next month's meeting too, you know.
Yeah. one of
I think it's the kind of thing you want to convey, you know, and and if their board membership changes after the election, you really want that to go to the new board members, too.
I don't know that that's who's up for the election then, what the terms are, but you really want that to kind of hit as they're beginning the budget process and not too late into it or too early, you know. So, but I like that idea, Eric. It's a good point. you brought it up before and I think it's appropriate and it follows from what we're talking about here. So,
Yep.
Yeah.
My view.
Yeah. So, we can we can put that on the agenda for next meeting or the meeting in in November and then, you know, make sure that gets done. So, I don't think you want to wait much later than November.
Definitely by October because I think they're pretty early in their process too. You know, they do their budgets, don't you? I don't I feel like it comes out a little bit sooner.
Yeah.
So,
well, we can propose it now. Eric, when did when did the tyranny typically do that or do you know when that used to be
I think they used to do that more like January December January time frame like before Ram has really so that after the the after the superintendent presents his budget but before the board of ed really starts
the discussions And I think sometime like I know the old business manager for AES used to encourage her used to encourage the board of selectman to give her a target to shoot from early because when you're building your budgets you just figure out what programs you can actually take on and you can't. so I don't know how the current administration will receive that but in previous years that's something very similar was done.
Hey Eric I'm just sitting here thinking that might the 15th that community room might be the next zoning board of appeals meeting.
Well then you guys are bumped.
We're bumped. So we got to get another room. I'll I'll talk to Wayne see if we can get a different date, different location. because I'll skip that and see if I can get a quorum without me at the ZBA to make this. Obviously, we'll have to get another room. So,
October 15th, it's zoning board of appeals 7 to 8:00 p.m. Economic Development Committee 7 to 8:00 p.m. Do you meet in person then? Typically, Bill,
we meet in person. Yeah.
Because people like to come and present, you know, their plans and all sort of thing. So, I'll ask Wayne if we can either make it a different date or different location and I'll see if I can get people enough people to fill in without me and have them elect a chairman because I'm the chairman of that board. Have them elect a chairman that night to run the meeting or move the meeting alto together one way or another, but I'll work in that.
Okay. Thanks.
so, back to the RAM discussion recommendation. And I know it's not even really on our business tonight, so we, you know, we really probably should put it on the agenda for another another night since it's not on our agenda.
Yeah.
And we didn't technically change it. we probably should put that on October's meeting agenda.
I'm fine.
Or or November, you know, if we want to have it a little closer and issue that in December once the budget process really starts. I personally think it would make it would be more effective in November, December, you know, and also make sure that you're capturing any changes in the composition of the board of ed for RAM.
Yeah,
sounds good.
So, last question on that vein is what do you want from me for this meeting? Is there any particular I said I'll get you the the grant stuff, the project stuff. you know and the the capital stuff. Is there anything particular you want from me other than that
for the tri board meeting?
Correct.
just the calendar kind of a proposed calendar or schedule of events. That would be it's the only thing I can think of that we would need from you, Eric.
Okay. I'll try to get that to you, Mark, at least say 10 days ahead and you can look at it and give me feedback on that.
Okay.
Prior to the meeting because that that might be smart for you as a board to just present that to the other boards and say, "Here's the schedule. Here's what we want."
Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's generally you put together a pretty reasonable schedule and people don't seem to have an issue with it. So, I mean, some of it's mandated by the charter anyway.
Correct. We agree that we were or we're not having a moderator.
The motion said that we had the option to choose a moderator, so it left it open.
Oh, okay. I just wasn't sure if Eric or somebody had to, you know, schedule a moderator to be there. I I just was wondering to Oh, go ahead. Yeah, I was just going to say if you decide you want a moderator, I would ask Jed because I think he's been an effective moderator the last couple of years if if you want to go that way, but that's that's up to you. in the last question, I know you guys have talked you know, to to some extent you as a board of finance get to decide what the budget looks like. you know, if if you have specific things you want to see in the budget, I think you should put that out to everybody there, myself included. because I'll make our budget adapt to whatever it is that
whatever format it is you want. You know, you just have to let us know.
Yeah. Personally, I think people are just used to a specific format. So, if we deviate too much from it, I think it becomes confusing. But certainly open to enter entertain anybody's input if they want to see things differently.
Yeah. The only thing the only concern I have is that the charter specifies what the budget should look like. It specifies how many
for the town meeting. Yeah.
So, I mean for the town meeting, wouldn't we want to just have it set up like that from the get-go or or what do you think? like do we want to
dive into what that should look like now?
But I think I think you generally have that, don't you, Eric? Or not always. I guess we haven't always had
something about five columns and I've never seen anything with five columns.
Yeah. The the problem is is that in some ways it doesn't actually provide you any information because one of those is a projection of the current year. you know, in December if you're projecting, you know, the current year, you really don't know what your final expenditures are, you know, and then it's also the spending to date on that. But unless somebody really knows for every single column how much should be expended in what calendar by what date, I've never seen that as information the public could really get anything out of. so we tried to get close to the the the charter required one last year. but you know, we can produce it. It just
it's when we've done that in the past, it's been it's caused more confusion, not less confusion. but
and truthfully I just need to for the record state by us moving everything so forward it's it's a little difficult because we we have to make all these choices so quickly you know I was never a fan of moving it earlier you know because we've got to decide what do we want to see what do we want to ask you Eric have just stated that we don't have the information which is right we're not going to know not too much is expended so are to to make realistic assumptions for the next years. So, I just want to state that for the record. It's hard moving everything forward. I was a real fan of the timeline we had in the past because we had a little more information, but I'm not going to prolong it. We're we have this new charter. We have to stick by the having the meeting going with what they want. So,
one thing I I do think though that I think we we probably should decide whether we want a moderator or not.
Let's not leave that hanging
because when are we going to when are we going to decide?
I would like to have him simply because of the the way the town is right now. Like,
do you want to make a motion to that effect?
Yep. I make a motion that we ask the town administrator to invite a moderator to the tri board budget meeting just to keep us on track.
I'll second it.
Okay. Further discussion.
Do we need to specify the moderator?
I can add.
I mean, we know we just had the discussion that, you know, he was going to ask
Jed. Well, if Jed's not available, we'll have to decide on somebody else. So,
right. I mean, I want him to have that flexibility in case he has to get it back, but we're obviously
So, we'll just say Eric will get a moderator for the meeting and he knows you prefer Jed.
That's fine.
Okay.
I thought about throwing that in there, but I didn't know if I could. I just had
Leave it open and we'll make
So, yeah.
All those in favor?
I I
.
Any opposed? Any abstensions? No. Motion passes. Thank you.
All right. So, moderated 700 p.m. in person unless you can't. We'll have the hybrid capability at the town hall October 15th.
Yes.
Y
good to go.
I should be there.
Okay. Good.
Good, Rob.
All right. Anything else on the tri board planning meeting, budget meeting?
Yeah.
Okay. Hearing nothing. We'll move it on. Again, thank you, Liz, for putting up putting it together. next item is the approval of the meeting minutes from August 27th. Anybody wants to make a motion to approve?
Motion to approve the August 27th, 25 regular board of finance meeting minutes as presented.
Okay, second.
Bill seconds. Any discussion?
Just want to mention it was a nice short meeting.
Nice.
That's my Mark wasn't there. I'm the denominator. I guess there
Eric wasn't there.
No, Joanne was running and kept going.
Do we have any discussion relevant to the motion at hand?
Well, sorry.
That was relevant.
No. All those in favor say I.
Any opposed? And I will abstain since I was not at the meeting. So, the motion passes. Thank you. Okay. We have agenda item eight, which is board open discussion. So, a couple things. I sent you all an email earlier today. passed on some information. We got a request from the chairman of the board of ed that we not have people individually just contacting Fuss and O'Neal. I guess it was confusing or problematic for them. I guess asking about the
bathroom project at the elementary school. so as I stated I think that the biggest concern here is that there just is a lot of there's not a lot of information out there and the board of ed and or the board of selectman and the board of finance really has not been part of the process. So hence there was confusion or you know concern on the part I think members of both boards to to get the information and understand what they're doing and figure out what the heck is going on. And as Kayn said she'll she said they would get it to us as soon as they have it. They don't have anything yet. So to me it's just kind of a black box. I'm just hearing a lot of rumors. I
don't other than you know seeing some of the stuff in the minutes of the board of selection meeting I didn't know anything was going on with it either. So I I don't think that that's going to be a topic for discussion for this tri board meeting. We should endeavor to keep that out but it is something we have to address in terms of what the process is. So
Mark can I ask just a procedure question when there's an RFP just because that's not my expertise. So, say there's an RFP. We've everybody's already approved Fuss and O'Neal as this. I mean, it's gone before the boards, you know, with hiring them to handle the RFB and the bid process to get the bids in. So, is it even appropriate? Aren't we supposed to wait procedurally until something's selected and then it will be given to us? I mean, I just want to know if it's even appropriate that we and I'm not condoning or, you know, people are just trying to get some information. I'm not saying anybody did the wrong thing, but is that even a thing that we're allowed to do or are per, you know, or do we
Well, it depends, I guess, on what the on what's been done. I mean, I think I think if you're if you're, you know, some of this is not super clear in the charter, granted, right? But I think that if you're embarking on a capital expenditure project, then it would behoove you to keep all of the people in the loop who are going to have to approve that project. And that's really the CIP. That's the board of selectmen and the board of finance. So it would make sense to have included people in there. Now, apparently there's a committee and I don't know what, you know, what they signed up for, who's on the committee, what they've asked
Bus and O'Neal to do, what the scope of the project is that they've been given. So, there really isn't anything yet. So, you know, I I think it's appropriate to ask that we have been kind of kept in the loop. So, that's that's kind of where I am. Go ahead, Rob. Yeah, I just my understanding of the status of things is they just weren't ready to bring it to CIP or Board of Finance yet. they, you know, FA O'Neal is still working it up. So, they kind of felt like we don't have what you want want us to to bring you yet. When we have it, we'll bring it to you. But I think it's fair point to make to them to to say that, you know, we are anxiously awaiting that.
Yeah, it seems fair.
I just want to know procedure. I don't understand that whole thing. Yeah. Thank you. So my concern is I've listened to the past several meetings and I know they formed a subcom committee and I know you and Bill you were named in the subcommittee. So I'm anxious to hear what you have to say but in the meeting that I saw from I think June they said yep we'll have a subcommittee and we will post the invitations to those meetings so that people can be informed as what's going on. Well, I've scoured their website and I haven't seen anything.
And then they have reported in their last board of ed meeting that they have the contractors lined up and they named them all. And I felt that it was really inappropriate to do that without having any public meeting to keep the public aware of the project. You know, where we were in the project, what the scope of the project. To me, it just it just seemed like, wow, they're just running through with this project and they've they've got their contractors and nobody knows anything. So, I think that stirred a lot of concern in in a lot of people. And there was also
some conversation at the last selectman's meeting that RFPs had been posted both on the board of education website and the town of Andover website
had not been
that that they were posted but they were not there was nothing but
hey were not
but if if everyone saw the email that I sent I sent it directly to the person because I relistened to that. I agree with you. I was on that meeting too. I know that Eric was asked a lot of questions about the RFP or the project and he didn't really I I tried to see it. You didn't offer too much, Eric. I don't know if you were at those committee meetings and we'll listen to Bill, too. So, I went straight to Val and I asked her if she had posted the RFP cuz I wanted to know because of what Kim just said. And she said she did send me an email saying that she requested that it got posted. So, I don't know why that didn't happen. So, she sent us an email asking the town to post it, but they didn't. I don't know why it's not on the board of ed website. I'm not saying that's just an RFP for a bid. Like I said,
she also she also said she was going to have it posted at the school as well.
Right. And all kind of a
Right. That would all be kind of like as a side because they're hiring someone to actually do the RFP project. Right, Eric? that that's like an official thing that goes through the state of Connecticut, right? Am I understanding that right?
I don't know what their process is exactly. So, she sent me a blurb to put on the town's website that basically says Fuss and O'Neal is doing anything. If you want information, call Fuss and O'Neal. That's not an RFP. An RFP is the document outlining what the the doc the RFP is the RFP. If I had had that, I would have posted that.
Yeah. And this isn't we're just trying to learn. This isn't we're just trying to get information like Liz. I don't understand an RFP process. That's not my expertise. Right. She said that she sent an email to I guess Jeff Murray who's on the board of selectmen, too. Unfortunately, he wasn't at that meeting and probably could have cleared up some of the questions that were asked. yeah. So, it said that there's a subcommittee. You're right. We all do need to know information. So, I'm asking Eric, Eric, say there's a town RFP. And I know bids are sealed. Working in a school system, bids come into the school system all the time. They're sealed. They have to be opened. I mean, we're not privy to that until there's final information. I just want to know the procedure. So, you know, we're keeping things where we shouldn't. Yeah.
I can't speak to the school's procedure.
No, no. I asked your procedure like you had an RFP, you're ready to open your sealed bids. What would you do?
Right. So when we have an RFP and it there are sometimes if it's a state or federally funded project there are additional requirements put in it by that those agencies but ordinarily sealed bids come into the town clerk's office they are datestamped and signed by the town clerk or the assistant town clerk saying this was received by because we have a no later than date on all the RFPs. The RFP is posted on the town website. usually they're published in depending on what it is. we can if it's a smaller RFP, we might get away with posting it locally in the papers. We tend to send them to all the contractors that we know that would do work like that. for the like for instance the bigger stuff the federal bridge programs we are required to send them submit the notice of RFP to two newspapers with statewide circulation. So we do that. the RFP is on the town's website. If it's something that involves a really large plan set like a bridge, you know, where you've got a 100 plus pages, PDF pages of bridge design, then we use a hosting service for the FTP and also for the hard copies because the town doesn't want to get into going at running action blueprints and running copies for people, you know. So, we just use we use an outside service for that, but the RFP itself is listed on the town site. And if you want to look, there's an RFP up right now for construction
services.
that's on the town website. That's
when you once you open them just to not ask you know keep every once you open them then is it someone's right to before you've chosen or whatever you have your committee is it right to ask for the public to see every bid that's out there
seems like that's not public yet but I could be wrong that's that's all I'm trying to see is what we're allowed to see
yeah as as soon as it's open it's publicly available bids are open. It's publicly available. Most of our bids for either services or major construction projects. A lot of the contractors will have a a representative there. and when you open the bids, you read off the actual bid price and all the pertinent. And if it's a federal local bridge program or something with federal or state dollars, DOT will also often have an observer there. you know, or multiple observers there depending on what it is. and you like for instance with the bridge project, we had to reject a number of applicants because they didn't supply all the proper documentation in the original bid. Yeah,
we can be a little more flexible if it's a town only bid and just go back and say, "Hey buddy, you left out this and this." but with with state bids, it's very, you know, programmatic and
he didn't supply the information on electronic media that is automatically rejected. That kind of thing.
It's somebody who spent many, many late nights putting together multi-million dollar bids for state contracts. I now have a flashback. Thank you, Eric. No, thank you for that.
Right. Sometimes the sometimes the price is actually a separate proposal. So sometimes they'll give you a technical proposal and they'll do the price as a separate proposal and they'll open the technical proposal that becomes this public document except where it's redacted as confidential by the by the contractor which they can do that. It's not always allowed but they can they can they can you know proprietary information they can they can redact as as confidential. and then the price is kind of held separately so that you can negotiate with the with the supplier without it, you know, being a public record. So yeah, it it can be very complicated or as Eric said, if it's a town only, we could probably make it a little straightforward. We've kind of gone back and forth on whether we want to even, you know, do bids type things. Does it need to be sealed? Does it not need to be sealed? It's,
you know, it always adds a layer of bureaucracy and we don't have a lot of resources. So we have to be a little
judicious in how we do those kind things, I think. So
yeah. No, thank you for that overview. Just to so it sounds like they've already opened and according to what I'm seeing. Yeah, I just wanted to kind of know the process to see where they're at. So,
and didn't do it publicly. Didn't do it publicly for the town's people to be able to see. So, this is going to be an interesting year,
right? I I mean in in in my case the way I the way we do bids is written out in your purchasing policy.
So you've actually specified kind of how the town does the bidding process and we generally follow that.
I know
you may add additional things to it but that's but the board of ed technically you exempted the board of ed from that requirement. So,
well, they hired to do the thing. So, I don't know what that means for the Go ahead, Rob.
No, I was just going to say as regards a specific purchasing policy, I think the idea was the board of ed should work up one themselves and it would probably be good if it comported roughly with ours, but they had sort of, you know, by charter they're kind of separate. So, I think that's why it went that way. As I understand the project, yeah, I I think basically the idea here is that nobody on the board of ed has the expertise required to really get their arms around this project. So, they wanted to hire an expert to run the process.
No, makes sense. And that that went through tons of meetings and got approved that they didn't have the Go ahead.
I I think I heard my name thrown out there as being on a subcommittee.
No. Did you know that?
I have never been in any kind of meeting. I have never been notified I'm on this meeting. So, I know nothing.
That's so funny.
Nice to know that I'm on the subcommittee when they meet, but I'm not aware of
it. Suggested not a very organized meeting. Maybe they haven't met yet. I I
No, but I heard I in in tr because I was at an event somewhere and I did hear that they were putting a committee together and I think I was near Jeff Murray at the time and he was saying he was going to be on the committee and possibly they were going to reach out to you, Bill. I just But that's good that you're saying you were never notified. I did hear your name as being a person.
If Jeff Murray's involved, they won't be inviting me.
Okay. I don't know. I think they were trying to have a few people in as stakeholders that would have some information. Again, I'm far removed from it. That's why you see me asking questions tonight. I just listened to the board of selectmen meeting which went a little ary on that as they usually do. So, I figured I like to educate myself on how things are supposed to go and you know,
well, ideally we would have a BOF liaison on that committee. That'd be great.
That would be great.
But we are
not saying I wouldn't do it. I'm just saying,
yeah,
told me I'm on this board yet. So,
if nominated, I will not accept.
If elected, I will not serve. No,
you know what we should do, shouldn't do, what we're allowed to do, what the process is. So, that's all.
Okay. Well, I'm clearly not going to beat Joann's record for short meetings. I also wanted to point out you know the the other thing I put in my email is that Jeff Maguire had stated that he was going to try to make you know exercise his his participation as an exeicio member of the various boards. so he expected to participate in the board of ed meetings and the board of finance meetings going forward. couldn't do it tonight because he was traveling California at least for us. and and that's right in the charter says that the first selectman is an exopicio member of all boards and commissions you know period doesn't have any any differentiation or explicit things by that. so typically that means that that's somebody who's a non- voting member but who would participate in these discussions as any member would. So just as a heads up for that more than anything else, you know,
Jeff stated goal is to make sure that we're all communicating better. which I think most of us would agree is a laudable thing.
we do need to communicate and make sure we have as accurate information as possible. So
it's truly really helpful if you think about it. I mean people should be when they're on a board, you learn so much by attending the other meetings. So more power to him. He doesn't have to rely on secondhand things. He'll hear it himself,
right? And and we can ask questions of him
that he hasn't,
you know, that that we may not be clear on. So,
yeah. Yeah.
Good.
so the other thing, if if you guys are okay with that, the other thing I wanted to just throw out there is that next October's board of finance meeting is the last one before the election. we will have a different composition on our board of finance next next November meeting. I think you probably most of you are aware, but Rob's term is ending, Joannne's term is ending, and my term is ending. I'm not running for reelection. So, at least my position will be turned over. So, in the event that neither Joanne nor I won't be obviously elected because I won't be in there unless, you know, somebody gets crazy and writes me in, but I, as I said, I would refuse my party's nomination anyway, my unaffiliated party nomination. But what I wanted to propose is that for the next meeting we have nominations and appoint maybe another co-chair or an acting co-chair or chair so that in the event that neither Joanne nor I or I won't be in there if Joanne is not elected then you will have somebody nominated to chair the meeting in November because otherwise What's going to happen is if if that were to happen, you know, I would guess Joan probably be
elected, but if she's not, then you will not have a chair and you'll be meeting. So, you'll really need somebody to lead that meeting and guide it. So, I would propose when I set up the meeting, you know, the only thing I really do as chair is that, you know, Joanne and I, we get an email from Kate saying, "Here's the proposed agenda for your next meeting. Are you guys okay with that? We'll add things. will remove other things, but that's really what we only do as a chair that you guys don't necessarily do other than some communications, which we usually just share with you unless they're routine. but you do need to have somebody to run the meeting and you don't want to you don't want to go into the meeting in November looking at each other going, "Okay, what now?" So, I would recommend that we we nominate and vote on another co-chair. in the event that that happens, do that at our October meeting.
And obviously it can't be me either.
Just Yeah, it would Yeah, it wouldn't make sense to have it be Rob,
right?
So,
you are running again though, Rob.
I am running again. Yes. But, you know,
the alternative would be
this is all contingency planning. So, should probably be, you know, one of one of the other three. The alternative would be you could do something like draw straws or something like that but you know personally I would just take it ahead of time and it only needs to be for one meeting you know just somebody until you have the new board in place and then as we had it kind of discusses our normal process is that we should vote on new chair co-chair positions following the elections on a annual basis. So,
right.
Thanks for thinking ahead. That's great.
And that's a good question. When the new board is elected, do they take office right away? I I thought there was a delay. Or is it in the new year?
There isn't really I don't think a delay. They're supposed to be I can't remember exactly what the charter says. It says something like until the new the new officers are selected and I don't know posted or something like that. I don't know what it is. So, I don't know if technically they need to be sworn in or not, but you know, generally once the election takes place, you know, there's not like an inauguration day where they start
Right. Right. Right.
So,
yay. Okay. Perfect.
Yeah. I mean, I think you just do a town hall, get sworn in again, right? Or for the first time, whatever. And then you're good to go.
Yep.
Good point.
But that's, you know, it's interesting how the charter doesn't specify a handoff date. It's kind of weird.
Yeah. Well, yeah.
On the on the website, it tells when the term ends. And the term ends on November 18th.
Yeah. Which is the Tuesday.
Well, actually, that's two weeks after two weeks. Not sure why that why that is.
I think that gives I think that gives two weeks for the person to sign in to to swear in.
Yeah. Probably.
And we typically have our meeting what the next the week after.
Yeah. meeting our meeting scheduled for the 19th. So
19th, right? Because we can't do the week after that because that's Thanksgiving. Duh.
Right. Right.
Yeah. So that makes sense actually because
that all that actually all lines up fine. Yeah.
The 18th is the is the term end date. Yeah. Yeah. So that's two weeks after election day. So that makes sense that Yeah. It gives them opportunity for them to get over and get sworn in
between that those two things before they can conduct business. So
yeah, that's clear. You know what I find really interesting just as kind of a side note is that the board of selection, this board of selectman board all gets reelected in the same year.
Isn't that weird?
That is very weird. The word is we're staggered, right?
Continuity, right? A little bit of continuity. Selectment could be a whole new board overnight.
Could be.
Right.
The way things are going, they may all bail at this.
Yeah. I mean, honestly, I think of where I honestly think the staggered process works a lot better.
That would be my take on the matter, but you know, there's there's all sorts of differences. I mean, we're seven, they're five, you know, that kind of stuff. But yes, to do it all at once like that, you could have wholesale changeover and lose an awful lot of knowledge like that. [Music]
Weird way to run a town.
Very strange.
Look, it used to be worse.
Somebody forgot about it and there must have had their reasons, I hope. But first knowledge that you gain by being on it your first I think
let's keep that one in mind next time we do a charter review commission
right that's a good thought
seriously
okay so all right so it sounds like you all appreciate that opport that that that to kind of make that take care of that business any other board open discussion okay hearing none we'll move on to item nine which is correspondence we have a copy of the RAM contract included. Eric, I don't know if you have any comments on that or
no, just when they sign a new contract, they're authorized to give it.
And it's the administration. You know, every school system has multiple contracts for their union. So, this one, when I took a look at it, this looks like their administrators. So, their principles, assistant principles, the superintendent would have a different contract. So, that's what I saw. looked fairly standard.
Okay. And then the next thing is a copy of the special report from the OLr. that's the office of legislative research. I did some train I trained a bunch of those people how to use Word Perfect one time. That was you know
perfect. Oh my gosh.
Wow.
Yeah. Right.
That still exists.
I know.
Yeah. as the office of I trained a bunch of lawyers how to how to better use word perfect.
I worked for a small software company. We were under contract to the Connecticut General you know and I was like a project manager and I got drafted in to do this because I knew a lot about it. But anyway, funny little little aside but here we have the report from the OLr on changes that will affecting municipalities and the laws. Eric, there's a lot of data here. I certainly didn't read it. Is there anything you think we need to be pointed out to?
Yeah, I think if you're going to read anything, read on page eight of the document the blurb on MS 2.0. so basically this is something that the comproller took on as a kind of herculean task which was reform the what's called the seamers or Connecticut municipal employee retirement system accounts. As you know the costs for employees under that is is incredibly high. it was a lot higher. They were able to bring it down, but the big problem is is that there is a pretty significant unfunded pension liability in the Seymour's program. So like for instance, the town right now contributes about 15% of an employes salary into the system. but only about 5% goes to that adding to that employees actual pool of money to get paid out later and the rest is dealing with all the unfunded mandates for the employees that didn't pay in enough in many years previously. So they're doing what's called the MS 2.0
which will be a a second plan going forward. Now, the earliest the town can enroll people in that is, I think, 20
July July 1st, 2027, looks like.
Yeah. And they're also doing going to authorize and set up a an alternative annuity plan for municipalities that are not in in Semerge currently, but it would be good if we were able to transition new employees after 27 into MS 2.0 0 because the benefits to the employees are essentially the same and the cost to the town are considerably lower. So that is I think a good thing. and that speaks to some hopefully some fairly significant cost reductions for the cost of benefits for town employees kicking in in a couple years. doesn't help us now, but you know, it's at least good that they're they're doing that. you know, aside from that, you know, they really don't know where they're going with funding. at the federal level, there was they did budget for an increase in health department and health district funding. which is good because they cut that for 25 and 26 and then restored it plus gave extra money in 27. So why they cut it for two years and then restored it as
a higher level, I don't know, but that's good for the health districts and that should lower our costs as a member of the health district. you know, there's the other thing that I think was good was there OPM had this requirement that if town budgets increase greater than 2.5% or the rate of inflation, then we got less state funds. So, if you're having trouble keeping your budget under control, the state's response is, "Well, we'll give you less money." Like, that was a good idea. so we've kept under the the cap. and we haven't really had a problem with that historically, but they've lifted that you know, going forward. And that's just an FYI. Hopefully, we don't
get to the point where we're over the cap and we would have been eligible for it anyway. so that is you know something we have to to deal with. the the other big thing is the comproller has announced that he really is a going to go after significant reform in the way town taxes the town the the state system for towns collecting taxes. Nobody knows what that's going to look like. he's asked kind of all the town managers and administrators and mayors to give them, you know, their suggestions and they're going to hopefully see whether they can come up with something that's an effective reform for local taxes. in my head, the biggest single thing that the state could do is increase its share of educational funding to the towns because that is, you know, 2/3 to 3/4 of our budget. And if you want to make a noticeable difference in town taxes, that's the way to do it. so that's all I want. You can read through this. There's lots of pages of of data there. every year they, you know, pass an enormous number of laws and we all try to figure out how to accommodate that. That's it.
Yeah. Rob, you had your hand up earlier.
You know, it's irrelevant because they rescended the thing anyway. So, whatever.
Let's move on.
Anyone else?
Okay. Hearing none, we'll move on to agenda item 10, which is public speak. looks like the only member of the public we have here is Tess. Tess, do you have anything to add to public speak?
Mark, thank you. No, I'm all set.
Okay. Thank you. All right. I'm impressed by your hanging in there ability, these exciting times. next item is adjournment. Would anybody like to make motion to adjurnn?
I will make the motion to adjurnn.
Okay. Thank you, Bill. Second. Kimberly, you had your name up your hand up at your mut.
I'll second it.
Okay. Any discussion? All those in favor say I.
Any opposed?
Were you opposed, Liz? Is that what you're No, you were saying, right?
I'm an I. I'm a
Just want to make sure.
Beladed eye.
A belated eye. There you go.
Yes, I'm a bladed eye. We're gonna have to institute a pitch clock, you know. So,
Motion passes. I slam my virtual gavl. Thank you everybody. We'll see you in a couple weeks.
Take care.
Bye.