Start it now.
I should have picked up on that myself. Try it again.
All right. Go ahead.
We're good.
Yeah.
Now the pressure's on me because we're being reported. So I feel a little extra pressure. So
I get a little shaky voice. Please forgive me. So, so one of the things that I wanted to talk about is just targeted reductions because I think it's really important to point out that the proposed budget that I'm discussing with you already reflects the removal of approximately $800,000 from items, personnel, equipment, services that had initially been requested from budget owners. So, they include things like equipment, furniture, and facilities maintenance and upgrades. we moved some to a lease package. Other things will be included in future budgets. We reduced our summer school credit recovery staffing. We reduced the number of six assignments that we have. and we eliminated four positions. So, high school business teacher that was going to be vacated at the end of the school year, a special education pareducator, a hallway monitor para educator, and a library media para
educator. So again, those in totality, the things that we have removed already from the budget total approximately $800,000. If if we hadn't done that, the increase that I would have presented to the board of education back in January and that I'd be discussing with you tonight would be a 7.42% increase over the current year's budget. I I just think that's a really important context for people to have as we move forward through this process.
can you can you explain what the re reduction of the sixth assignments?
Yes, it's a it's a it's a great question. Yeah, it's so so essentially at the middle at the secondary level, the way that it the way that it works with regards to what teachers are required per contract to teach is generally that they teach five sections or five classes over the course of the day, right? One class or one of those additional periods is a lunch. One of those periods might be a prep, the the ones that they're not teaching, I should say. And then another one might be a you know a collaborative time or some other duty assigned to them. But essentially basically secondary teachers are expected to teach five classes over the course of a school day. Sometimes though it is necessary for us to say to an individual teacher who is contractually obligated to teach five classes in a day, hey we need you to teach a sixth assignment or a sixth class. And with that comes additional compensation. And so again, when I talk about a reduction of six assignments, I we look at, okay, you know, hey, you know, this teacher currently or this teacher was you know, has historically taught a six assignment or
is teaching a six assignment this year, but next year we're not going to have him teach that six assignment. Does that make sense, Liz?
Great.
Yep. That that's perfect. Thank you so much.
Absolutely. Any any other questions about that, Liz? The only thing I'll say to that and actually to the collective group, the the reason that six assignments are a useful tool for us is because it enables us to pro to make sure that we have a wide array of course offerings for students without having to take on additional staff. It's really difficult as you can imagine to hire people at a you know hey we need to hire you but we just need to hire you for one class or hey we need to hire you but we just need to hire you to teach two classes. It is financially unwise to do that. It is much better to do six assignments. but again when we can reduce them we try to reduce them. if we could go to the next slide please it would be great. Thank you. So, our capital budget is obviously different from our operating budget. As I said, it's a $500,000 budget proposal for next year. it enables us to address timely issues that need to be addressed. I have a couple of photos on this slide for you. These are photos that I shared with the board last spring. they are of our loading dock and as you can see, it is in rough shape. we need to replace our loading dock because it is literally falling apart. our anticipated cost
is about $425,000 for our loading dock. we have also catch basins that need to be either rebuilt or replaced to the tune of approximately $58,000. And then the other important thing is approximately $21,000 for repainting of pavement barking. basically that's parking lots you know access roads. the the the paint that identifies parking spaces that identifies no parking areas has faded significantly. And it's a safety issue for us and students and and staff and visitors that we we get those repainted. to in order to keep it right at $500,000, which is what we have historically tried to do, at least in the past three years that I've been in the district going through the budget process, is we really shoot for a $500,000 capital budget. because we constantly have needs that need to be addressed. one of the things that we historically include in our capital budget is approximately $40,000 to address sidewalk repairs that need to be done on an ongoing basis. We have hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of feet of sidewalk concrete sidewalks. we actually took that out of the capital
budget for for next year and actually just are going to allocate money from this year's budget to to pay for those things. But our capital budget again for next year is $500,000.
Colin, on on something like the loading dock, are you going out to RFP on that?
So, I think that there is. So, in a typical world, yes, we would. But I think that there are companies that are on the state list that negate our need to go out to loading docks because and obviously it's a significant financial savings for the district. If we don't have to go out to RFP, if there's companies that are on a a consortium list or a state list of of vendors, then it saves us the time and the money of going out to bid. But again, the the the the proposed amount of $425,000 is came from a a company that we have worked with and I think is on our state bid list, but I can I can confirm that and get back to you
if you would.
Please. Thanks.
Yep. I'm just going to make a note. So the the next slide talks about our debt bond payment. and I'm really happy that we are in a good place from the standpoint of you know this next year fiscal year 27 is going to be the final year of paying our debt related to the renovation of campus that was done approximately 20 years ago. our final payment of $418,000 is essentially the same as last year's I'm sorry as as our current year's payment. So it's really it's it's budget neutral. I do want to make sure that I do point out that we do have significant capital needs. Obviously I talked about three things, you know, the the loading dock, the paint, and those catch basins. We have significant needs beyond that. we we are very fortunate that we our buildings and grounds have been wellmaintained and improved in many ways. It is imperative that we continue to ensure that the needs of our buildings and grounds are addressed in a time frame where we are not forced to play catchup which is unfortunately something that a lot of schools and districts find themselves find themselves in that place. It's important to note that we are faced with numerous highcost projects in the very near future that will require bonding. so we have a facility subcommittee in the district and we have worked closely with that facility subcommittee and district administration to prioritize bonding products to include several of the things that you see in front of you. Not that list is not exclusive. It is not. There are other things that I did not identify, but things like roofing at both schools, HVAC systems and controls, our boilers
and our chillers, life safety, security and communication, so our alarm systems and our door access technology, flooring and sterats, adding additional parking to the district because we don't have enough parking right now. So, there's a whole host of things that we are we're looking at going out to bond for. we're currently working with an architectural firm, Frier and Associates, to gain a better understanding of the financial impact of the capital projects that are going to need to be completed. once this is done, we're going to have a special board meeting to discuss these projects in greater detail and develop a plan for moving forward. So again, I'm really happy that obviously we're
going to be done with paying off our our debt related to the the renovation of the campus 20 some odd years ago. but we unfortunately are going to have to look at incurring more debt through the bonding process because we don't want to kick the can down the road and and not maintain our our facilities and and major systems within our facilities because then it just creates a cycle of we're we're constantly playing catch-up. Any questions about that? All right, I will move on to the next one then. So this is just a a slide I always like to include. It's the per pupil expenditure for secondary regional school districts in the state. So we are we've certainly increased from last year. However, we do continue to provide a high quality educational experience at a at a cost that is amongst the lowest in the state when compared to other regional school districts. So talk a little bit about enrollment on our next slide, next few slides. So we use NASDAQ to provide enrollment projections. This chart shows our October 1 enrollment from 2019 2020 school year to the current school year as well as the projections through 2035 2036 and beyond. the projections indicate that our enrollment re remain will remain relatively stable over the next 10 years. Next slide, please.
Looking at about a 2% decrease this time from this year to next.
I'm sorry. Say again.
I'm reading it right. You're looking at about a 2% drop. You're estimating.
I didn't I didn't calculate it, but if you're if that's if that's what you're getting, I'm not going to argue with you.
But yes, we're seeing a decrease from from our current year to next year.
All right.
where was the data?
And oh, one other question on your per pupil chart. Your per pupil chart I noticed it it cut it's done. I think the 2425 year is the last one on there. Is that it just takes a while to calculate the current
correct the correct the 2526 won't be available until next year. It's always a year lag unfortunately.
All right. Just checking.
Yep.
Okay. Can you Yeah, that one. Where was that data from? What was it called? You said NA NAS
DAQ. So, it's the New England School something council. so we have an affiliation with them. We send our current student enrollment information. Andover so Hebrin and Marbor also send their information to NASDAQ as well which gives them projections. Andover does not does not have that affiliation with NASDAQ. So what we do with Andover is Andover provides the information to us. We then send it to NASDAQ and then as a part of our enrollment projections we we get them back from from from NASDAQ.
Okay. So if I'm looking at the data that you have online, you you had as of October 1st, 2025, 1,021 students. So that relates to your yellow line there, which is 199. So
yes,
the NAS NASDAQ information was two students off. So that's pretty good. all right. if you can also provide that to Jim like that the details regarding NASDAQ that would be great.
I can send
Oh, perfect. Thank you,
Colin. You're excellent. Thank you.
I try. Thank you.
All right. if we want to go on to the next one. So, this just shows the middle school projections were slated to increase by approximately 50 students over the next 10 years. at the middle school, if we want to go to the next slide, please. So, this shows high school projections, current enrollment and projections. one of the things again, we're we're slated to remain relatively stable over the next 10 years at the high school as well. The one thing that I will note is that the projections do not factor in the tuition students from Colombia. and as I said before, we are optimistic that our partnership, as our partnership grows and develops with Colombia, we're going to continue to be a pretty attractive school district to them and for their eighth grade students and draw more interest from Colombia families. if we want to go to the next one, it' be great. So, so as a part of the projections that are provided to to us is we have we get across the board pre-K to grade six enrollment projections and as you can see they are projected to remain relatively stable over the next 10 years across all of our three towns that feed into region 8. if we could go to the next slide please. So, you know, as I noted earlier, the the the proposed budget does eliminate four full-time positions. However, it does include the addition
the the current proposed budget does include the addition of three of two new positions that are that I feel are necessary to address current needs of the district. The first is a buildings and ground maintainer, which is a 1.0 FTE. The facilities department that we have currently has one outdoor maintainer responsible for all grounds across our 52 acre campus, including park parking lots, common areas, and 10 acres of athletic fields. So, these fields require mowing multiple times per week, painting, seeding, fertilizing along with yearround exterior maintenance. As our campus and maintenance demands continue to grow, this work can no longer be sustained by a single individual. Adding a building and grounds maintainer would provide consistent coverage, reduce the need to pull custodial staff from their core duties, and ensure that our buildings and grounds are properly maintained year round. This position would also be able to support interior maintenance needs during the winter seasons to improve safety, efficiency, and overall care of
the district facilities. So, the second position that had been proposed in the initial budget to the board is an instructional technology specialist coach. So, I'm sure that you all are not going to be surprised that technology is woven into pretty much every part of the school day for students and staff. from instruction to assessment to communication, data analysis. And as these tools continue to grow and change, we really need to have consistent highquality support to ensure that technology is being used effectively to enhance teaching and learning. At the same time, again, I'm I don't think I'm going to surprise anybody by saying that artificial intelligence is rapidly changing how we learn students learn, work, and think in the future. colleges and employers are now expecting graduates to understand artificial intelligence and use it responsibly and ethically. I feel that creating an instructional technology coach or specialist would provide dedicated in-house expertise to support teachers and students with technology, digital citizenship, academic integrity, and ethical AI use. This full-time position would add significant value across the entire district and better prepare students for what comes next, whatever that will be. and you know, I I always like to give the disclaimer that it's really important to note that the needs of staff of of students can shift significantly and that we may need to hire additional staff unbudgeted to adequately meet student needs. but that's those are the personnel additions that we're looking at currently. If we can go to the next slide. So, there are some potential changes that could impact our proposed budget and lead to possible changes again over the next few months. So, as I said earlier, health insurance premiums currently were budgeted for 15%. That
may change. I'm sure that you will hear about that from your town and your local superintendent as things change, but that could impact our budget. as I said earlier, our Colombia students currently we have anticipated revenue of $312,764 for next year. based off of the current students that are attending from Colombia and the number that we anticipate choosing Colombia for next year as eighth as as incoming ninth graders they will identify their high school of choice really by the end of this month and the budget will be adjusted accordingly. The other thing that I want to make sure I note is that since presenting the initial proposed administrative budget to the board on January 26th, the board
we had two workshops, budget workshops. These workshops provide an opportunity for each department budget to be discussed in greater detail and for board members to discuss the proposed budget and ask questions. at the conclusion of the February 9th budget workshop, the board did ask me to identify areas of our budget that we would be able to reduce the proposed amount by 2%. So, as I said before, our initial proposal was a 4.77% and the board basically tasked me with the responsibility of coming back to them with reductions that would get us to a 2.77% increase. there was a a collective concern by board members that with the increases that are feeding districts such as I I think you guys are at 11% in in in Andover currently for the board of ed. that you know basically an 11% increase and a 4.77% increase would not go over very well with members of the Marbor sorry
the Andover community. so I have been working with the administrative team to identify areas where we could propose reductions to the board. These recommendations will be made to the region 8 board on Monday, February 23rd. So again, I don't know what the outcome of that meeting will be. but I do anticipate having some changes as a result of that meeting. any questions about those three issues? So, the the RAM board of ed asked you for an additional $700,000 in cuts.
Close to $700,000. Yes.
Okay. Thank you.
On top of the $800,000 that I've already made.
Understood.
any other questions? All right. If we can go to the next one. So I I always think it's really important to highlight what I call, you know, the return on investment and, you know, the community invests obviously a lot into RAM, you know, middle school and high school. I I I feel like the district provides tremendous opportunities for our students. You know, we have over 250 courses and 38 concurrent enrollment opportunities at the high school. And what I mean by 38 concurrent enrollment opportunities, it means that when we have students taking classes at Ram High School, they are actually many students are there's 38 classes that we offer that allow them to earn college credit. It is not uncommon for me to hear from graduates and speak with graduates when they come back for whatever school event is taking place and tell me that, hey, you know, Dr. McNamera, I'm graduating in three and a half years from college or hey, Dr. from McTame. I just talked to a student
right before the the winter holiday. Hey, he said something about graduating and I said, "Well, wait a second. You're you've only been in school for, you know, two two years. How can you be talking about graduating in three?" He's like, "I got so many college credits in high school. I'm graduating in three years." So, you know, as the father of two college age students, I would have very much appreciated them having the opportunity to to earn a year's worth of college credits because college is not cheap. so, you know, again, significant return on investment. We have, you know, students that are performing at very high levels. 356 students are taking AP tests or 356 AP tests are taken and we have students 96% of our students are scoring at a level three, four or five. you know we have current eth grade students who are earning 300 high school credits which again enables them to take more diverse classes as high school students which also enables them to again earn those college credits when in high school. So, we just, you know, there's a lot of really things going on. if we can go to the next one, please, it would be great. you know, we we provide a tremendous amount of positive
experiences for students beyond academic achievement. We've been recognized as a best community for music education for nine consecutive years. We offer a wide variety of fine and performing arts programs and classes that enable our students to achieve at high levels and be recognized statewide and nationally for their hard work. So yes, academics is obviously a critical thing for us. but it but we do more than just academics. We know that students come to school and and and want to do more than just take classes and and be successful academically. And and the next slide actually continues to to demonstrate that because you know we also offer plenty of opportunities for students to demonstate demonstrate their skills and excel in student as student athletes. we have 13 middle school teams. We we have 31 31 high school teams. students have tremendous success on our competition fields and our basketball courts and our tracks. student athletes earn individual acclaim as all state, all conference and triple threat athletes. Triple threat means they are three sport athletes. So they do a fall sport, a winter sport and a spring sport as well. So again, tremendous success. If we can
go to the next slide, please. So the you know I'll just close in saying you know it represents the budget represents a collaborative monthslong effort by district leadership and staff to balance our responsibility of maintaining high standards of excellence expected by the RAM community. it's designed to offer you know the the public a transparent view of our strategic priorities and educational programming. you know, I think I speak on behalf of the leadership team and the entire district when I say that we are grateful to the families and the communities of Hebrando over and Marorrow for their continued
partnership and and and helping us prepare students to become, you know, impactful and members of a global society. I know I've asked answered questions along the way, but that concludes my presentation and I could do the best that I can to answer any additional questions that you all might have for me. Thanks Colin for that. Anyone have any further questions on the presentation?
No, thank you very much for the information and anything that you can provide us to give to our members as additional information would be appreciated. So, thank you.
Yeah, absolutely. So, I'll send the information over about the loading dock to y'all and I will, you know, whether or not we have to go out to bid or or it's a part of a it's under a state under the state contract that doesn't doesn't require that. And then also just the NASDAQ report. I'm happy to provide that to you. I think those are the only two follow-up things that I have. If if I'm missing anything, let me know. And what I would say as well is if there's I know there's not questions now. and that's great because I'm going to go eat dinner. but if there are additional questions that come up, you could either funnel them to Jim and Jim can send them directly to me or, you know, certainly my email address is is accessible on the the district website and then as I said, you know, Scott as a member of the
region 8 board of education but also an Andover community member don't hesitate to reach out to him and and he will funnel the questions to me as well. I I want to obviously make sure that everybody has as much information as possible. and I appreciate your time tonight.
Speaking of Scott, he's got his hand up. Scott, did you have something to throw in thereformationally?
Yes. I'd like to offer a slight clarification. What the board asked Colin to do was not to give us a decrease of 2%. but to give us a whole bunch of scenarios of what if we needed to cut you know a quarter percent or a half percent or whatever up to say 2% from this budget where would we do it just just to make it clear that that's you know he was not asked to go cut he was asked to give us options yeah I'm going to yeah so if I didn't explain that correctly Scott thanks for bringing that to my attention I I'm going to what I'm going to do on the 23rd is is is bring recommendations to the board in in a priority party order you know and say you know if here there are some things that are what I would characterize as no-brainers that like just easy because you know we a great example is I I think when we had initially proposed our our budget to the board we had a number for fuel from Andover that was not locked in right so that like and now now I believe that Andover has locked in their fuel costs associated with busing I now we have that number locked in. And so what I could tell you is that we're saving $636 by having a locked in fuel cost. So like that's been added. So
so in totality, but the number that was was again that that at least I heard Scott was was come to us with with 2%. You know, what would it look like if you were to recommend reductions equaling the amount of 2% of the overall increase to get it down to a 2.77? What would your recommendations be and what would the priority be? So that's what I'm I'm going to be prepared to do with the board trying to be a good partner for everybody. And did do you have and you're muted.
Yes. I just was looking at the cost per pupil expenditure and if I I'm not sure if I'm doing it right, but if you divide the total budget and this proposed 2627 budget by the number of students, it comes out to over 34,000 per student instead of what it was in the 2425 year of only 27. That's a pretty big increase there.
Is there some complication to how that figure is calculated, Colin? That's what I'm wondering.
So, if I could understand how that number is calculated, I would probably be a wealthy person because I could predict like stock market values. So, it's a it's based off of a state formula that I'm I'm I not to sound flip, but I don't necessarily completely understand. so so that number it's it's again it's it's it's it's provided by the state. I'm happy to send that information over because it's not just information that's provided by the state specific to region 8. It's also provided for every school district in the state of Connecticut. So I could like it's literally it's a it's a publicly available document on the state of educ on the state website that provides it it's called the net current expenditures per pupil. So I I use NC. I use the term per pupil expenditure because it's it's what it is. but it's not a real number because the reason I say that is because it doesn't factor in. Remember how when I talked about the cost of education for students for Colombia, we have a base tuition price and then we have additional costs for things like special education related services, things like that, right? So there are
students that attend RAM who don't get those types of services and and and or who don't ride the bus to school and but transportation is factored in across the board for every student. you know the the the the total cost of special education for the entire district is averaged out across our total membership but it's not a real number. It's it's it's a it's based off of a state formula. And one of the reasons that I think I've survived for 20 plus years as a school district leader in the state of Connecticut is I try not to put too much weight in what the state provides to us. just because it's it it I think I would lose my mind if I tried to understand state formulas for things. So it but again Ann, it's it's not a real number. I'm I'll make a note to send you all with the that list of the it's literally it's a spreadsheet that shows the NC
I think I found it while we while you were talking if I'm looking at the right document there's an Excel version and a PDF version and you're saying it's the NC number that you're going off of.
Correct.
Right. And they have Yeah, they have region 8 here. might be a little bit different because they updated they updated
very close but it's 27,180
they they updated they I think they updated it twice in the year so it may have changed from when I initially provided that information
and you know if you if you go and you look this up if you plug that into a Google search it come it does come right up net current expenditures per pupil CT you'll get the portal and on that portal if you go to forms documents and forms there's an opportunity to download either a PDF version or an Excel version of this document Andover's on there too. You can see AES on there as well.
Yep.
You know, they have them at I think 24,722. So, as an as a point of comparison, obviously elementary school versus regional middle high, but it's got all the towns there.
But yeah, I always understood and the reason I asked you, Colin, is I always understood that to be a bit of a black box. Some stuff going on under the hood I don't think I understand. So, it's difficult to explain and for me to try to explain that to a community member. I guess we were hoping
Well, it's it's a legitimate question that I I wish I wish I could provide some clarity on. What I could tell you is that when we when you know somebody went somebody ear I think Liz you had asked about you know how did how did you guys establish the you know the base tuition rate for for Colombia students. We tried to look at what that NC was, that per pupil expenditure for for region regional school district 8 students, but we like like I said, if if I went to Colombia and said, "Hey, we're going to use $27,000 as your base tuition price," they would have said, "Okay, we have zero interest in that." Like, we're not going to do it. But that is inclusive of special education costs, transportation costs, which which again, that doesn't apply unilaterally to every Colombia student. you know, it applies to some and in the same in the same regard that those costs don't apply to every RAM student either, right? Any any student in Hebrew and over and Marorrow. So the same idea applies. It's it's that that that dollar amount is not it's just not a real number for
every single person like because because to be honest with you there are students who are attending an outofstate special education outplacement program that might cost $65,000 a year between tuition and transportation. So $27,000 isn't a real number for them either. It's it it goes on the ex it can go on the low side and it can go on the extreme high side. And unfortunately though, it's a it's a mislead I use it because it's for as much as it's misleading for us, it's also misleading for other districts, right? So So it's but it's what I have as a as a comparison to demonstrate that we're still amongst the lowest in the state, right? And and that number is going to change. If we see increasing I'm sorry, if we see decreasing enrollment over time, the amount of money to run the district, if we lose 50 students or or gain 50 students over the next 10 years, that number it like we still have to heat the building, pay for buses, like 50 student difference in one direction or the other is not going to have a substantial increase on our staffing. it's not going to have a substantial or
change to really much of anything. It's the challenge of a of a secondary school district. Whereas, if you look at student enrollment at an elementary school district where you say, "Hey, our incoming kindergarten class is 15 students smaller than our current kindergarten class or larger. Well, that's going to impact an elementary district because you're either going to have to increase your kindergarten staffing or potentially decrease your kindergarten staffing. It doesn't work that way with a secondary district. It just it just doesn't, you know. So, I don't know if that helps or hurts or confuses, but I you know, it's it's it's I can't provide much more clarity than on that number.
Well, I guess what I would say is my take away from this is as a rough benchmark, it's there.
Yeah. But don't read into it all that deeply because it can it can be a little misleading maybe. that's that's my takeaway from it and but thank you for pointing at it so I could find it myself. That was helpful.
Sure.
I have one more question too that just popped up. do you know of any grants for renovations to school buildings?
So that's a great question. So, one of the things that I could say to you is that as a part of the process that we're going through with regards to the bonding process, the group that we're working with, Frier and Associates, they do a a lot of work with school districts and municipalities. And so, there is I don't know if I wouldn't say they're necessarily grants, but there are reimbursements that are provided for certain projects. and and we're going to work with fire and associates. You know, when we talk about, you know, projects that we need to go out to bonding for, as I mentioned, roofs, like roofs are something that qualifies for a certain state reimbursement and a certain percentage and a certain amount. So we work with with groups like that to identify areas where hey we need to do this but it's but by doing this we qualify for certain state reimbursements and that enables us to to reduce the impact on our member towns. There are certainly things for us to to get state grants for from time to time. They pop up from time to time. I think it was about two years ago, we
were awarded I I think it was a close to a $300,000 in grants for air quality, indoor air quality grants that were available to local school districts. We had done some HVAC work to some of the different areas of our building. and then the indoor air quality grants came into existence and we spent some time applying for those grants and that helped us out to the tune of again approximately $300,000. so anytime there is an opportunity for us to seek state funding or any type of grant funding for projects that we either have done and we can retroactively apply for or apply for in advance. we we always seek those opportunities and and go for those funds.
Thank you.
Hearing none, I'm inclined to let you go, sir. Get yourself some dinner.
I appreciate it very much. I thanks guys for your time. Again, if any questions pop up, don't hesitate to reach out and have a good rest of your evening. Okay.
Thank you, Colin. Take care. Thank you.
All right. Well, we'll have to see what the outcome is of further deliberation by the RAM board. so, having gotten that gotten through that, I would just like to ask, you know, in a sense of where are we at on the town side? How firm are we feeling? you know, I haven't had a chance to go through line by line, the preliminary document that Lisa sent around. but if we could get to follow on that, that would be good. you know, what our what our thinking is in terms of how firm these numbers are, what still needs to be addressed and so forth.
Jim, why don't you pull that down for a second so we can just talk?
Yeah, it's right here. Y
there you go.
It was there. so they are very preliminary because we've had so much going on, Rob, that we have not had a chance, especially with the town administrator. you know, Jim is actually leaving a week from Thursday, a week from tomorrow, right Jim? That's your last day. Lisa has just gotten engaged and built the the spreadsheet that we currently have. So, they are preliminary. I know that I was looking at some of the things today. We have to go through some of the union contracts because I'm not sure that every one of those increases is exactly where it's supposed to be. So, I would tell you in a in from my end as only one member of the board of selectmen, I don't sit there and see that we're significantly going to increase our prior year budget. I would say that we have some things that we have to discuss that we potentially should do. I believe we should sit there and spend some additional funding on the community center. we should buy them a computer program and do some things to
improve the services that we provide to our seniors and to families. So those are things that I would like to see done. But listen, you know, our role as the board of selectment, as we get to this is is is as policy. Your role in the board of finance is is, do we have enough money to support the things that we'd like to sit there and see done, right? So, your board's not the policy board. Your board's the board that sits there and says, "This is all the money you're going to get to spend." and hopefully we can work together to not increase the total cost to the taxpayers too significantly. So,
yep. so I was just looking at this this chart on the total there's a line called total total expenditures town.
And it's showing of of an increase of variance 136,209, but the percent change is listed as zero. I'm assuming that's a formula error. that'll get cleaned up.
We'll fix that. The current the current the current structure of what is listed here for for your guy, you guys, what you really control the money for because even though we got the presentation from RAM, that is just strictly a vote of the three towns. yep. So, right, that's their number is 4,260 or 4,260,000. That was what we they were dealt with last year. So, right now we're at 3,35,829 $892, which is 35% of the total expenditure. And the capital that is currently listed on there is 1,28,750 or 10.94% of the the town. That's how you look at the town. So really 46% town, 54% AES. And those numbers are listed there, but we have to go through those line by line because all of the percentage changes on the increases. Some of those aren't going to happen. Some of those need to be modified. we will sit there and get that to you and by the time you get this next week, you'll have a much better
feel for what we're going to do. But
again, unless unless somebody sits there and tells me, I mean, I listen,
you guys are going to have a difficult year. we're going to have a difficult year. You're going to have a difficult year. It's a it's a it's an a big number. We're going to try to do our part from a townside to sit there and be respectful and sit there and have a number that makes sense.
So, I understand that. I was just trying to take a look at it. see where it was now. And you kind of already kind of got to my next question, which is you're saying we're going to get something updated next week. That's good. I assume we're targeting to have that so for our next meeting, we'll have something firmer.
Okay.
Can I just say something,
please?
Absolutely. You're the treasur.
Yes. That's that was on purpose for that formula because your formulas coming down and going across need to be, you know, double checked and everything. So that was on purpose. I didn't if you add up all those percentages, that's not the percentage that would be going across. So, I was waiting to do that. I just wanted to say a couple quick things. The worksheets we send out to the departments will be more explanatory next year for the departments. I think they're weak. so we'll have more data next year. I arrived, you know, right at budget time, so it was a little tough. and I also wanted to say in some of these increases, some of them are a little more than others, departments did send some explanations. I don't know if you want to see some of those explanations. They're just saying why some of the lines increased. A few of them went up higher than others, like the programming for the seniors. You know, some of them wrote a little bit of a script with it. I tried to put it in the memo over there. I'm still working on moving that memo column over a little bit. and there's forecasted items in there. That's your choice. I'm here to help you. I forecasted some of the electric because some of them their budget from last year isn't half spent yet. So, I just kind of forecasted. It's up to you if you want me to increase that and just increase it 3% or just
leave it the same. The same with your revenue. your revenues are left the same as last year because that's your decision to tell me do I leave it that way? Do you predict this is what's going to happen for your revenue. So you know I'm looking for direction from you at this time.
Okay.
If memory serves in the past I think we have done at least a little bit of revenue projection but I I can't recall I don't think we did anything very aggressive with that. I think we're generally not I mean unless we're doing it unless we're revalu
we're not gonna expect a big change I think to revenue.
Okay.
that would be my take. I personally would like what obviously you don't want to have the spreadsheet be totally overrun with this but if there are little blurbs that explain substantial ups and downs in departmental budgets I personally would like them. In the past, my recollection is some departments would come and present to the board of finance. You know, public works would come, fire department would come. I don't know what our timing looks like on trying to do some of that stuff this year, but if we're not getting that, then I think all it's all the more important to get whatever they've given in justification, you know, even if it's just a few lines of saying, hey, we're asking for 5% increase and here are three bullet points of why.
that's better than nothing. I I think it's really important for the board of finance to get the department heads in. So, I would recommend that Eric from the Department of Public Works comes in front of the board, even if he's just put in for the first 15 to 20 minutes of of a meeting for you, Rob,
just because it's good to have the community hear directly from him so they understand this is public works. this is who's running it and this is the requests that are being made. So if you put the schedule together, we'll sit there and we should just ask each one of the individuals to to come.
Yeah. I mean, my gut reaction is, you know, we got a meeting on March 11th that might be good for that. If we can get some of the department heads in for that, that might be a good
And Carol, you do know that this is a joint meeting. You can talk at any time.
Okay. I didn't want to interrupt. I was just raising my hand to be polite. Okay. I apologize for not seeing it, Carol.
Okay, Jeff. Jeff is just picking on me. I just have a question. Jeff, is the admin assistant I see that line jumped. Is that what the board of selectman was discussing with giving the town administrator a 20our a week admin assistant?
It It was there. You have to remember that last year, Eric had $15,000 that he wanted to do for project manager. that's still there, but I'm
still there and now the administrative assistant is there. That that that is something that we have to discuss as to what we're going to do with those line items and what we want to do. That's one of those items, Carol, that we need to discuss.
Okay. I just saw that it was up by 194.17%. On that variance, the with the salary line, there's an additional 10,000 there. That's why I'm asking. I I do see the project manager, which we didn't touch that budget last year, but we're putting in another 15 in this year.
Well, we we have to sit there and go through it. I mean, we have Christine Reandazo that has been working with us related to the field and that's what Eric was trying to Eric was trying to sit there and and get some compensation for her so she could do that and he could do the bridges and the other projects, but obviously without air some of this has changed and and we haven't really made a push to use those dollars. So we have to as a board go back and provide back to the board of finance more refined numbers on some of these items and and Carol also we have to decide the you know the percentage we use 3% as as a a rate change on compensation but we have to decide what we're doing on each one of those lines
right and see what the union contracts say
correct
are the actual UAL raises,
but we really haven't had a lot of time to look at these.
No, there's been a little bit going on.
There's been a lot going on. I understand. So,
in terms of scheduling, since we're talking about scheduling, I was trying to set up the AS presentation to us. and I was wondering what people thought about our next meeting, the 25th, the the the board of finance meeting starting at 7:00 after our joint session. whether we want to do it, target that because I think that date could work for the superintendent to present AES to us.
You're saying you're saying next Wednesday?
Yeah. Oh, I think
the reason the reason I was looking at this, sorry, just to I don't apologize for cutting up is I should have explained this up front. I asked about the 11th, March 11th, but that's a regular board of ed meeting. So, I don't want to go to the 18 March 18th. Man, we're getting
That's too late.
I'm starting to worry, right? So, I asked Val and Caitlyn, could we do the 25th? And I think that is viable for them. So, I wanted to get people's take on it
because you do know to hold a public hearing
and they set the annual town budget meeting for, I believe, April 9th. Jeff,
that sounds right. I have it all on my phone.
So, you have to plan for that public hearing, too, to present your finalized budget.
Yep. And you know, if you hold it the last week in March, you know, the Wednesday before we're having the annual town budget meeting, that doesn't give you many weeks in between.
It does not.
No.
Here's here's the other problem, right, Louise? You're going to be away next week and so is Bill.
Yeah. That's
that's I mean that's why I wanted to bring this up, but I'm I'm really I'm looking at the schedule and I'm getting pretty nervous. Is there any type of voting going on in that particular meeting?
I mean, we don't have to take first of all, as you know, this is a ongoing discussion, but
my thought was we'd want to get a presentation and digest it.
but that was that's just that's me speaking. you you guys can have your opinions, but yes, ideally, I would not have it at a meeting where you and Bill are out.
Okay.
you know, that would be my first choice. But if we, you know, get through the presentation, maybe you guys could watch it and then we could
our 11th meeting, March 11th meeting,
talk about it further.
That that's all I'm thinking about. I'm just looking at the calendar here and I'm trying to find a date. and it gets it gets tight fast. you know, it's it is indeed April 8th, at least that's what my phone for the the town budget meeting, which means the f April 1st would be theformational
board of finance presentation,
you know, for public comment.
Public hearing,
Robert, we we moved it to the 9th on Thursday to avoid the board of education meeting.
I see. Okay. I've
It's still listed. It's still listed on the town calendar as the 8th, but it has been moved to the 9th to avoid
a conflict with the board of education.
All right. Well, I'll move that in in my phone then just because I don't want to I don't want to get messed up. All right. Well, the point being is just looking at the weeks. the pri the week prior that's going to be ourformational session at which point I would certainly hope we had a working plan. So, you know, that gives us basically, you know, this month and next to sort this out. so I'm just that's the reason I was I brought up the 25th. I know it's tight. I know we have members not going to make the meeting. the 11th being a board of ed meeting is you know the other option I guess we could look at
is seeing if we could do something on the 12th move our meeting
12th 10th or 12th.
Yeah. yeah something that's that I guess would be the other option. if we want if we want to see we'd have to obviously canvas the board for availability, but if we're trying to avoid having this on a night when we're down two members, that would be
right.
That would be the thought. But the way I left it with Caitlyn and Val was that I'd talk to you guys and get back to them. So any other thoughts? I mean Nick, Heather, anybody else have availability issues like on any of these weeks? Can Can you think of anything that we should avoid?
I'm looking at my calendar. I'm pretty much free. Those the 10 the next week is fine. The 4th, the 10th, the 12th. I'm good for all of those.
And I guess that's the other thing. I don't think we have anything scheduled for the fourth.
We don't, but I won't be here for the fourth.
Okay.
Yeah.
Which is suboptimal.
I mean, I won't be here. I'll be on a I'll be on a cruise ship, which I may or may not be able to call into.
Cruise ship Wi-Fi. I don't know if I'd be relying on
I'm just saying
I don't know. I I I understand. I do.
The timing is not good. you know me, I don't like to miss meetings. So,
I can if people want me to, I can go back to Kate Caitlyn and Val and ask about the 12th. The the 12th would work better than the 10th for me. but I I can look at those dates.
Kim Kim,
if people want to
say something,
I do I I would like to just not have it on the 25th at all so that we have everyone there, February 25th. Is that the date that we were?
Yeah, that's next week. And I would like to just either have it on March 10th or the 12th as well, just so we have everyone present on the board of finance. And I can make both of those dates. So, whatever works.
All right. I'll reach back out and see if we can make one of those dates work.
Yeah. And if if we do, you know, people agree that if we're doing it that week, we would move our currently scheduled special meeting
to that other day and not do a double not double up. Is that I mean, what do people want to do there? I personally think if we already have Yeah. If we we would move the meeting. Yeah. Okay.
My Okay.
Sorry. Go ahead, Liz.
Yeah. I guess my only concern is if if we felt we were able to recommend a change
that doesn't give them much time
to do anything and it doesn't give us any time to look doesn't really get us time to digest it either. I mean
there's not much to digest. We saw the presentations.
Yeah. now and in between now and then I guess is really what it boils down to. I mean, the presentation's nice. but the information is already out there. So,
if if they came on the 25th next week, it's recorded and everything and we're not going to vote on anything, right? So,
well, again, I mean, it's it's a regular meeting. We could theoretically take votes but on you know in relation to it but I my personal take would be especially if we did next week where we gave us some more time is to get the presentation ask questions think about it and come back with a full board because again we're down two members
right
and come back at the next meeting where we have everybody before we you know do anything further but that that would be my take if we do it that way if we do it on say March 12th picking one of those dates then we hopefully would have a full board already there and we you know we might act accordingly. That's my that's my gut.
Right. But like Liz says that doesn't give them much time after.
It does not. It does not. It's it's not ideal. So that's why I looked at the 25th even knowing we were going to be down people. but I completely understand. I really do understand the take that not with two people out. What's up, Lisa?
I'm okay if we do it the 25th and I can we can review it, but I just want to make sure that we can hold up on any type of voting until we're all present.
I I I I think that's fair enough. I I think that would be my preferred approach as well.
So we can get it over with and then, you know, we can all kind of watch it and then determine it afterwards.
All right. And then we would and then we would have our meeting on the 11th. We could, you know, we'd have everybody. Okay. I'm okay with that, too. I'm fine with that. I can reach out back out to to Val and ask her to come for the 25th. I assume Bill would be okay with that as well. You know,
I I I think probably I could try texting him and see if I get an answer, but
I know he's out. Yeah,
I know. It's not great. he just he was away for two weeks, so
Okay.
I don't really feel bad for Bill. He's on a cruise ship enjoying the weather. Yeah, we've got some lovely weather this evening here at home. Huh?
Everyone's going on cruises.
Not me.
Well, All right. So, we also had gotten a request from AHM But I don't think, you know, this it was too late to get them in this meeting. So, and then I don't know if we want to tack them on to a meeting where we're already having AS. So, my thought would be we we maybe push AHM to March 11th if that makes sense or well assuming we do March 11th, but yeah. Does anybody have thoughts on that? That's usually not a huge number, but
we could probably have them come in
first first get it over with and probably won't take that long.
I I don't expect it's usually, you know, an hour presentation or anything,
right? Don't they usually ask two people from each town to come and vote on their budget? And do we know when that is? Yeah, that's the thing is I think that's still up in the air. Hang on, let me find the most recent email because it's been kind of going back and forth. goodness, I actually did that last year.
Yeah.
And I'd be open to do that again, but I I'd be voting after everyone decides,
right? Right. Oh, yes, there it is. historically, our meeting consists of two representatives from each town. Typically, a town manager, I think she means administrator, whatever, along with some one the town administrator designates from board of finance or board of selectmen. So, so here's another issue, a little wrinkle. obviously our interim town administrator is leaving. so we could designate we as the two boards are here. We could designate one person from each to be the AHM contact folks and try to set something up, you know, and not try to have to to link it up with one of our meetings necessarily.
Believe I was designated from the board of selectmen this year to be the contact for AHM, but I haven't really heard anything. I don't know if they did get my name. I tried contacting them.
yeah, Tesa emailed Jeff and I and a few other folks CCD, but didn't send it to the entire boards. so I mean Jeff's got it. He he could hopefully send it around to the rest of the board of selectmen and maybe we could coordinate. you know, anybody on the board of finance want to step up this year for to be our AHM rep?
I'll do it again.
Do it again.
It's a very helpful organization.
Oh, they're great. they're great.
So, I No, no question there. So, so I mean I personally
just as a just as a just as a side thing, they they sent
hat meeting was scheduled for February 28th.
Oops.
Oh, this is 2025. I did a search on. So,
I've got correspondence here from them. I don't know if this is what you're talking about. We'll get it to you and so and we'll usually Kate gets all that information and then Kate forwards it out. But we'll sit there and see where we're at with it. Yeah, this one this there was an email
this Tuesday in the morning from Tresa responding to me because I had her initial email had come out February 12th to Jeff and I and I responded just kind of giving her our meeting dates because I wasn't quite sure what we wanted to do yet. and her response email was on Tuesday. But again, it's it's to Jeff and I with a couple of folks CCD, but no other board members.
I am forwarding it to you right now. Thank you,
Louise. I'm going to go ahead and forward this to you.
Okay.
I believe that's the most recent one. I don't see All right. So, that's Ahm. We've talked about AES presentation. I'll get I'll go back and it sounds like we are going to try for the 25th. If for some reason that falls apart, I'll see about the 12th or something. But for now, Yep.
I'm sorry. I do. We have a We have a meeting on the 25th. Do we not have one the 4th?
We don't have one on the 4th. At least as far as I recall.
Well, we have one on the 11th.
We do.
Okay. I just have it backwards on my thing. That's fine. Thank you. Did you know I had something on my calendar on the 4th as well?
Maybe I'm wrong. Hold on.
I have a board of finance.
I thought it was like one of our workshops. I could be wrong.
It should be. I mean, looking at it and how tight everything is, I kind of feel like there should be one.
So, let me I don't know why I wouldn't have had that in my phone, though, because I tried to plug them all in. So,
I thought that's what I did, but maybe I thought maybe I did it wrong.
No, I'm I'm just I'm I'm looking. Hang on. I'm gonna
have to look double check now because I I probably it's probably by mistake.
I don't want to miss one by accident.
I don't see it on the calendar town calendar.
You have Zoom meetings set up for the 4th and the update in a second. March 4th, March 18th, she has BF budget meeting.
Oh, wait. Sorry. the the the month. This is March. That's weird. Why is it Why isn't it coming up? H is it under is it under only the boards of commissions page? Maybe it's there.
I think I got it from the very first meeting when they when you sent out the list of them.
I mean, I'm just I'm just looking at the town calendar right now and I just don't see it. You
Yeah, I don't see it on the town calendar either.
whereas our 11th, 18th and 25th meetings are there.
You know, personally, you said you were going to be away, Liz, but
I'm going to be away.
I'm not opposed to having
additional meetings. if we have something to discuss, something to to chew over. So,
right,
I'm trying to remember now. I mean, if we didn't do that, we we probably didn't do it for a reason, and I just don't remember what it was that we wouldn't have picked the fourth. but yeah, it's not on there. Now, in terms of in the past when we've had the fire department, I mean, it's usually I think Wall-E who comes and talks to us. I I can't recall how that was usually set up, whether the town administrator, whether Eric had set that up in the past, you know, bring in when we did these coordinated, you know, bring in public works to talk to us, bring in fire department, talk to us, or whether it was something that Mark handled directly with those commissions.
I think Eric did everything. I I suspect that that
we're feeling it now. We're feeling it now.
Yeah. because when did you say the last day was next Thursday?
Next Thursday. But if you want I can get an email out to department heads for March 11th and get as many there as you are there particular ones you want.
I mean generally public works I think is a good one to have. the fire department whenever if you know if they have a budget ready we usually do them.
I think I think they do. Lisa,
let me let me ask a question. I don't know Jeff if this is not a right question. How do you folks handle regional services? I I haven't had a chance to get them to Lisa yet, I don't think, because she's got a million other things she's been doing. But I've got on my desk, you know, Nikko, Niko Animal Control, Eastern Highlands. They've all given me Yeah, they've all given me
and I have those,
Jim. Those are in
I did give them to you.
Yeah,
they would be
They're in this budget already. They're already in
Oh, good. Okay. The Manchester proate estimate.
Yeah, we usually, I think, just have those plugged into our our chart. Yeah.
Whatever I have, I've got in is in there. Whatever Jim is talking, whatever has been given to me is in there.
Make sure probate one.
We always have to the one for the one for Nik is in there related to animal control right now. It's something that we have to look at because they're trying, you know, there's an increase in the animal control side of this and and all of those would be in there. And then hopefully what we can do is provide you the details related to it so you can at least look at it and then ask any questions. But for the most part on those shared services, it would be here's the bill that's being proposed. Yep.
Are we willing to accept it or do we have to go out and look for an alternative? And and a lot of those shared services, it's really hard because it's something along the lines of animal control. And
we're not going to do those services. not a position to do that in house. That's just
so we've we've had communication with other towns related to that and it's just something that if we can find a better deal, we would probably sit there and go with it. But what we should do is in the comment section of Lisa's budget is put, you know, if there's a line item such as Nikcog Nikko bill attached or NE need bill available, we'll sit there and do that and then and Carol, you can sit there and we can go through the probate court and say here's the the estimate and it's attached. So
that'll be helpful.
That that was the documentation I was talking about earlier. whatever I put in there that's for this year. If it's a new figure, I have the backup. That's why I wondered if you wanted to see it.
Can I I just tell you what I used to do as far as bringing in all of these departments. We my my list of meetings does say the third, the 4th, and the 11th of March. And I think I got this off the the board page, but
I just Yeah, I just found it is on November 19th board page,
right? approval or whatever because you would approve and what we used to do is approve the budget calendar in December. The board of finance would and every department would be listed. You'd have like six departments, six departments, six departments and then they would have an assigned night that they would come in and speak to you about their budget. they could pass on it or they would come in and you're right, the fire department, public works, they have bigger budgets, but they were like assigned nights to come and talk to you because, you know, you have so many meetings. You'd have six one night, six, and they're the most of them are brief. It's not like the school, but that's how we used to get everybody in to talk about their budget. We would schedule them in and if they couldn't make it that night, they would like let us know, well, that's the Mass Fire Chiefs Association. Can you make me another night? and you put them on a different night. So, it was just it was in the schedule like with this it was in the schedule what department would be there that night. So, that that's just what we did in the past.
Great. All right. And if we've got a meeting on the fourth, well, that gives us a little extra wiggle room. So, I'll plan on that. And if we can get, you know, on for the fourth we can get public works or some of these other folks in. Great. Well, Louise, what was that? Yeah, I've been reading the letter that just sent over about the AHM AHM and apparently they already had their meeting February 10th and I guess they had contacted Jim and no one had attended. So what they're looking for is the person that they can get up to speed and I'd be happy to do that because I was the person from last year.
Yeah, you have continuity there.
All right. So let me let me do that. I'll get us up to speed and everybody know,
you know,
we I'm sending an email right now to her for both of us.
Oh, that would be great.
Okay. And then we can see what we can do.
Perfect. Thank you.
Great.
Did they give a presentation that was recorded? Did they say
I don't think it was recorded last year? I don't think it was recorded, but I can find we can find out. Ann, can you ask that in your in your email?
Okay. Thank you.
Yeah. And maybe if we could get a copy of their budget for anybody that wants to look at it because I'd kind of like to look at it. I'd like to know what we're getting out of it, how much utilization we're using out of it, and can we be maximizing them some way?
Maximizing their services, you know, just have questions. My rec Yeah, my recollection is they've been actually the the services have been utilized more heavily in recent years than a lot.
but yeah, I mean any detail we can get be great.
Okay.
I don't recall our contribution being
a huge number.
It wasn't.
They do the birth to three services which is always great. I don't know if it's birth to five now, but birth to three evaluations of kids and they do a bunch of different stuff. Then they were doing a lot of mental health stuff I think if my research Louise did recently.
But yeah, anything get us. Thank you for taking that on. I appreciate it. So, yeah, let's see if we can get some town departments in for the 4th and or 11th. See what we can do for availability there. right now everybody I think you know take a look at but understand what's been presented to us thus far is very preliminary. You know it's going to board still has to go over it some more. see, oh, I had a question. I apologize to go back a meeting. Jeff, I had a question that I meant to ask you, you and Jim, the last meeting that we had had, but Jim was under the weather that night and whatnot. And I and we ended up talking about other stuff and it flew out of my mind. There was something I saw in the admission report last meeting about some fraudulent check flags from Mnt. Can you explain what happened there?
Sure. Somebody Well, every check that you send out, even as an individual, has the bank routing number and the account number on it. And what scammers have been doing is taking the routing number and the account number and putting it on check stock and creating their own checks and then sending the checks out and signing them and they get processed through the bank. And when you reconcile, you sit there and you find these things. So to be really honest, this is a really big problem for us right now. It's something that we're dealing with the bank. Lisa has been reconciling the bank
account and this weekend she identified some additional transactions that were not checks that were a transactions. So, we have been dealing with Mnt on this issue related to you know, we're probably going to end up having to change our account. Not for any reason that you're not going to get this to happen again, but just because we I believe our number our numbers are circulating out there.
Not only do we have the check issues, Rob, we have some AC issues. So in an a transaction, someone outside from the bank is requesting to pull funds from our account and the M&T Treasury Department is sitting there and should be flagging those and identifying those transactions and cutting them off right then and there. But we're now in the process and Lisa has gone through Monday, Tuesday trying to get the bank to sit there and identify that these are transactions that we have not requested be completed. So,
and as things stand, do we have a sense for what the financial impact of this is to the town?
Oh, it should be zero.
Okay. That's what I'm
hopefully. Right. if
it's an it's a nuisance. It is something that, you know,
Lisa didn't sign up for.
I mean, to be really honest, she she sat there and
identified. So, listen, I I'll just tell you, she's she's been
completing the reconciliations on the accounts. and our account setup is a little little interesting, but she she is good. And over the weekend, she was doing January's reconciliation. So, she's getting up. She's finishing the general account and reconciling for the month of January. And then she's sending information saying, "Jeff, here are these transactions that are on our account. What do what do I do with these and what are they?" And I'm like, "Those are fraud." So, to be really honest, on Sunday, was it Sunday?
Yeah.
Was it Sunday? It was Sunday.
I think so. Yeah. It Sunday, I was there doing it. Yes,
it was Sunday. And because to me it's a big deal. while I was on the phone with the bank for two hours trying to get through their to their treasury and fraud department to sit there and just get it on record that we've identified these transactions and you need to deal with it. Well, the first time I was on for the hour, they hung up on me. And then the second time I was on for the hour, I got through and they said they couldn't do anything for us because if if it was a credit card transaction, they could help me. But with it being an a transaction, they couldn't. So Jim returned from his trip and he communicated with Mnt on Monday and we're in the process of getting this resolved, but there should be zero financial consequence to the town because we didn't approve the transactions.
All right, I'm just checking. I mean, I didn't know if they weren't caught in a certain period of time or there, you know, we could be up a creek. So that's why I asked. And even the checks, the checks, if I understood this correctly, the checks were identified by Mnt's fraud department.
The AC said in the report, yeah,
the AC transactions were not.
We found those. Okay.
We found those.
Lisa, Lisa, we didn't find those. Lisa found
Lisa. Okay.
Thank you, Lisa.
It looked rather strange.
I appreciate that rundown because it had been noodling. They've been rattling around in the back of my head since our last
meeting. And none of these should have any impact none of these should have an impact on us.
Okay, that's that's good to hear.
Yeah, I can't promise you that. But we're working on it.
Yeah, we are.
Right. That's the that's that last bit. You can't promise me that. That was that was, you know, working it way through my head. But hopefully we get through this and Mnt is stand up about it and we and we end up owing nothing. But okay. Okay. Well, thank you for that rundown that just have been bugging me. So, you know, other than the things we've already discussed, the RAM presentation, the preliminary numbers that Lisa has sent around to us, do any other members of the boards have anything else they want to bring forward tonight? you know, we are at almost two hours in. So,
are we going to discuss the email
that we got today?
you talking about the attorney opinion regarding our roles and responsibilities to the budget.
I mean, I personally wanted more time to read through it and digest it. I have I've read through it, but I've read through it skimming it frantically about an hour ago. Not an hour ago, an hour before our meeting started. and it's also my understanding that we may be getting an opinion from the a board of ed attorney. So I my thought is why don't we talk about that either next time or on our March 4th meeting
and it has to be on your agenda because this is a special
yeah
we have our next meeting is a regular our next meeting is a regular meeting so we can add and delete to those
you know to that agenda as we will
yeah you don't need to discuss that you don't need to discuss that here tonight you need to be aware of it and And I'm I'm all for Shipman and Goodman sitting there and providing an opinion in the town having to spend more money on that because the lawyer that writes the or has written the educational law book is Shipman and Goodman. So, let's go. So, you know, I think it's I think that's interesting in and of itself, but read the opinion and then we can all discuss. And I would also tell you one other thing. Go look at every other town and go look at the other towns and and their board of finance and what they do. That's all you got to do. So, let's go next time. All right. Well, I think that's the right call to give people to some time to digest it. And
you know, we have a meeting in a week and it's a regular meeting, so we can do what we want with the agenda right at the beginning of the meeting, additions, deletions, etc. given that we're two hours in and I've kind of worked through my little list, you know, if I if I hear nothing further from the board members, then I'd like to do a round of public speak and go ahead and move to adjournment. Is everybody okay with that? Anybody have any objections, thoughts? Any any other board of selectment meet members have any comments?
Right.
Anybody on the board of finance have any comments to share? Let's
both boards.
Let's do it. Well, hearing none, I guess I'll go around and ask for public comment before we wrap this up. So, I don't think we have as many people left. Let's see. That's That's Lisa. That's just wanted to say good luck in the process. I know it's a long one. And I want to commend the treasurer for all her hard work and efforts and seems to be doing a wonderful job there. that will be so helpful in such a new new staff members in your building. Thank you.
I have a comment. on the agenda, it doesn't mention public speak after the
Oh, does it not? I apologize. I I had when I pulled up Sorry. When I pulled up one of the other PDFs, it killed my meeting agenda. I don't know why my computer's doing that. All right.
Normally, we do two rounds in our meetings. That's the reason I just by creature of habit I I just defaulted to it.
It's not on the agenda. I don't know. We might want to
put that back in there. We usually do a public comment at the end of our meetings. So maybe next meeting we can alter the agenda for that purpose. But if the agenda is what it is and I'll abide by it. Thank you, Louise.
Okay.
but again everybody for if you didn't get heard at the end of this meeting just you know we have a meeting in a week. if you can make it great. and as I mentioned to everybody here, I will reach back out to Valerie and see if she can come and present to us. 25th, we'll make sure the recording happens. Liz and and everybody else help me. You know, let's make sure on this one because this is now a couple times we've had a little bit of a snaf. We're gonna have some members who aren't here.
Not so easy to
It's I'm focusing on, you know, trying to get the meeting going and I apologize. I am still new at this and I just missed it. All right. in that regard, do I have a motion to adjurnn?
I'll make a motion to adjurnn. I'll second that.
Thank you. You too. Any discussion? All right. All in favor?
I. Any opposed? Stansions, etc. All right, everybody. Thank you very much. we have a lot more to do.