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. can attend to other agenda items. In order for this process to work, and in fairness to all involved, disturbances or outbursts will not be tolerated.

If these very few rules cannot be followed, I will politely ask the individual to cease or leave the meeting. If that does not succeed, I will suspend the meeting until the quorum is reestablished. The Massachusetts Open Meeting Law establishes strict limitations on topics that the select board is permitted to deliberate absent such topics being specifically listed on the board's meeting agenda publicly posted at least 48 hours prior to the meeting.

Therefore, in order to ensure compliance with Open Meeting Laws, the select board refrains from responding during a public comment absent a good reason and comfort that such responses will not violate the Open Meeting Law. Often if a topic is raised during public comments that merits further discussion or action by the select board, the topic will be included as an agenda item for a future meeting. Thank you.

Thank you for that indulgence. And with that, we'll start not with public comment but with the town administrator's report.

[Speaker 1] (37:20 - 48:21)
Sure. Thank you, David. I wanna just take a minute and have a moment of silence for the passing of Swampskip Police Officer Tom Lucas.

Tom was well-liked in town. Tom was always somebody that had an easy smile. I enjoyed working with Tom.

Tom and I didn't agree about everything but he was always a gentleman and certainly contrast sharply with so many situations that I've had to deal with. He's somebody that is gonna leave a big hole in this town. He served the community in a number of different places.

So let's just take a minute and think about public service, think about the complexities of public service and think about Tom's family and the responsibilities that he bore for so many years serving this town. That said, tonight, we'll be going over the FY25 budget. As I've mentioned every year for the last few years, these budgets get harder and harder.

This year, we have so many incredible things that we're doing. We're gonna be opening up a new school this year. We're gonna be thinking about how to redevelop a waterfront property.

We have so many extraordinary investments that we have to make to continue with our responsibilities for that status of good repair for infrastructure. Our finance director, Amy Sorrow, and town treasurer, Pat Luddy, really the cornerstones of our finance team, will join me for this presentation. We also have a special town meeting coming up and we'll be going over that a little later tonight.

This past week, I had a very productive meeting with state and federal environmental leaders from the EPA and MassDEP to talk about our efforts for IDVE, or investigate, detect, and eliminate point pollutions to Kings Beach. We have, over the last many years, been working with the EPA on a consent order to sleeve the town's pipes, but it was helpful to hear about what the city of Glynn and Lynn Water and Sewer have been doing as well. Now, it's clear that we've gotta do more.

I've heard from our EPA colleagues that they think we should be more aggressive. I have kind of shot back every time I hear that we should be more aggressive, that they too should be more aggressive. I feel as though our state and federal partners have as much of an affirmative responsibility to think about supplemental investments in public infrastructure that would help return that beach to its place as a safe resource.

I don't believe that we're gonna get there in our, frankly, generation, if we simply have to chase miles and miles of pipes on both sides of this line, with no absolute certainty that that will come even close to protecting the health and safety of our residents. This is a serious issue. I don't think we're cross-purposes here.

I just think we have to come to reality that we've spent millions and millions over the last few years on both sides of the line here. I'm not pointing fingers. We're gonna spend millions and millions for the next forever for our status of good repair.

We just have to get another solution that can help give everybody the confidence that if they take their family members to Kings Beach, that they're going to be safe, and that has to happen over the next few years. We've been waiting hundreds now, and these meetings are frustrating, but they're getting us to, I think, a better conversation. I fully expect the federal government to look at Water Resources Act and other legislative acts to find an appropriation to take us to that next level.

Our Recreation Department is hosting a health fair on St. Patrick's Day. First time I've actually heard of a health fair on St. Patrick's Day, but I'm pleased that we're doing this. We've talked over the years of having these annual health fairs.

This will be at Swampstead High School on Sunday, March 17th from noon to 4 p.m. We have 40 vendors. There will be demonstrations of Narcan. These are life-saving, you know, drugs that I really do wanna have out in the community.

I want folks to really come down. We're planning Earth Day on April 27th. We're gonna get more information out there.

We really want folks to get out before the poison ivy starts to grow to get into spaces around Swampstead that could use a little care. We're already out cleaning some of these areas, but we want community groups, students, and frankly, organizations to get out there as well. Community and Economic Development Department has been busy meeting and talking about pickleball.

Margie is here, and she has a presentation. We can talk a little more about the noise and the decibel readings that we've received. We've got some support from the Executive Director and residents of the Bertram House.

And really looking forward to kind of working with folks to really find a way to make sure that this project has as much community input as possible. Westcott Development is moving forward. It's an exciting housing project on Elm Place.

I wanna thank the neighbors, and thank everybody for putting up with the disruption. There's information on our website, swamps.ma.gov, Community and Economic Development, backslash pages, backslash Elm Place. But if you search Elm Place, you can find pictures and status of that project.

Town Clerk has been busy. We had a very successful local presidential election on Tuesday. You know, we had about 30% turnout.

Secretary of State's office processed, or as of February 14th, we had 2,026 requests for ballots and nailed out a little over 1,900. We have early voting at Town Hall for upcoming April elections on Saturday, April 20th from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Town Hall will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to noon on Friday. Fire Department has been awarded an $18,000 grant from the Executive Office of Public Safety.

I wanna thank Chief Archer and members of the Swamp Fire Department for applying for these grants. They're competitive. It's a fire safety equipment grant.

Funds will allow the department to acquire fit testing equipment for self-contained breathing apparatus, SCBA. Chief Archer has worked really successfully over the last few years in getting hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of grants. It's a really tribute to his focus and efforts to really bring in these dollars.

Really pleased to attend our third annual Black History Month celebration at the high school. It's great to see so many new faces. We should have an event like that every month.

Very important to talk about race and talk about black history and where we are, where we should be going. Seems like that conversation just comes up just one or two times a year. It doesn't seem right if we're really gonna do something more than give it lip service.

Lots to do. I really was thrilled to hear Enzo Schurin, our poet nationally recognized and frankly won an award as our state's most significant poet, speak about his experiences artistically. Senior Center, new kitchen is installed.

I had the technical challenge of seeing if it worked last week. Pleased to get no reports of any problems. We did run out of franks and beans.

I was surprised, but I was able to whip up some lobster bisque and some macaroni and cheese. It's pretty plain, but 80 people sold out. If you missed it, I might make a return visit sometime in April, but I'm gonna keep it quiet.

That said, I wanna thank my team. We had Chef Theo McDonald, who was truly a chef. I'm just a COVID chef, I guess.

Heidi Weir, our director, assistant director Sabrina Clopton, Sonia Nathan, our volunteers, Janet Fisher, Michelle Ergamo, Marie Yanko Grant, Caroline Scott, and Olga Krishnamoorthy. I'm sorry, Olga. I'll get the pronunciation correct, but it was so great to see that Senior Center come alive.

Typically we serve 30 meals, but to have that room full and to have that kitchen working is a huge credit to Max Casper, our facilities director. He has worked over the last year to try to make sure that we brought an investment in on budget, and we had to go back out and re-bid that and really work with a number of folks to get a good system there. So I wanna just give him a tip of that.

Thanks, Sean. That's my report. Questions, comments from the board?

[Speaker 6] (48:23 - 48:27)
Do you have any comments? I was just echoing how wonderful Max Casper is.

[Speaker 4] (48:28 - 48:30)
You can say it in the microphone. Don't say it too loud, yeah.

[Speaker 6] (48:30 - 48:33)
Oh, I wanna echo how wonderful Max Casper is in case you didn't hear.

[Speaker 5] (48:35 - 49:47)
So I do have a couple comments. I'll start with the Senior Center first. I wanna thank Gina Bush and Marilyn Cassidy for their hard work years ago trying to make sure that there was money in the capital budget to get a kitchen in there to start really promoting and getting more meals cooked.

Right now, we can do 80 meals at a serving, which is pretty substantial. It used to be 30, and that makes a big difference for seniors. When they're home, they get to come up to the Senior Center and socialize and have a really great meal, especially we have vegetable gardens we can be using.

It could be a really intense project for the community. Chef Theo Carangela wants to be able to cook a whole lot more, so that would be a good plus. I do wanna talk to you before we finalize the budget because there is one little issue with their dishwasher that we just wanna see if we can nail down before the end of the finance season.

On the...

[Speaker 1] (49:47 - 49:51)
Happy to talk about the dishwasher. I learned about that when I was... Sorry, I'm trying to clean the dishes.

[Speaker 5] (49:51 - 51:01)
When you're trying to clean the dishes? When I was washing the dishes, yeah. I can't solve problems I don't know about.

Well, I'm gonna get you the info. I got it. On the Kings Beach section, concerns that I have over what's going on with the EPA is if the EPA and the DEP are saying that they are in support of a pipe, should we be having those conversations and really focusing and seeing if the select board is in support of a pipe out there to start to alleviate some of the pollution?

I don't have an opinion on it. I just wanna start having the conversations because the EPA is saying that we're not doing enough and actually in the consent decree, which I have gone over in section 21, it does say illicit discharges should be removed within 60 days of violation. And we have illicit discharges and we haven't removed them.

And I think we've gotta focus on a few of these things. And you have heard me be very verbal about what's happened over on Fisherman's Beach. So that's something I wanna see more of a conversation at some early point.

[Speaker 1] (51:02 - 51:04)
And then- Can I respond to a few of those points?

[Speaker 5] (51:05 - 51:05)
Sure.

[Speaker 1] (51:05 - 52:57)
Yeah, so I appreciate that, Mary Ellen. What we've decided is that we're gonna study the additional feasibility of whether an outfall pipe is feasible and permittable. The head of the state of Massachusetts environmental agency, the secretary of the executive office of environmental affairs sent a letter saying that they actually think an outfall actually has some promise, but we're not there yet in terms of either the state or the town or the federal government's sense of whether or not that from a regulatory standpoint is feasible.

We have to look at the eelgrass. We have to look at the hydraulics of the flow. There's so many design studies that we have to get into.

Once we actually determine whether or not that's gonna be feasible, we'll come back to the board and we'll talk a little bit about whether or not one option is long-term more prescriptive for the protection of human health than another. Right now, the EPA is silent. Some of the other state agencies are silent.

They haven't actually opinion, but the head of the state's executive office of environmental affairs has said that they think the outfall actually makes some sense. Studying ultraviolet lights, we're gonna see if that can be a short-term solution. We're doing a bench scale study right now that is bringing some science to the table and we'll get data that will help us understand whether or not on a short-term, there may be some solutions here that can protect human beings.

[Speaker 5] (53:00 - 53:44)
And my last issue or comments surround the Westcott development. The Westcott development is up and under construction and I'd like to know where are we with getting I&I fees from the Westcott development because a development with 114 units, so let's just say it's 114 bedrooms, that fee is a little over a quarter of a million dollars and they're just starting to build now. We put the I&I fee in place in 2021 and I wanna know if we're having conversations or where are we with this?

[Speaker 1] (53:44 - 53:59)
Yeah, we did. There's a legal opinion about the applicability of those fees. It has to do with the timeline when that project was approved by the ZBA and I can send you the legal opinion.

We can discuss that.

[Speaker 5] (54:00 - 54:01)
That'd be great.

[Speaker 2] (54:02 - 55:01)
Yeah, so they are, I mean, I'll clarify. They're not paying them. As part of the 40B application, they asked for relief from all local regulations and they included the I&I fee in that and it wasn't until after the zoning board granted all the relief that I think the developers taken a position that the 40B permit gives them relief from the I&I regulation.

I'm not saying I agree in any possible way with that. As a matter of fact, I'm probably saying the exact opposite, but I'm just telling you, the developers taking a position that the 40B permit gave them exemption. That's accurate.

And town council has, I'm just gonna be fair. You know me enough to know what I'm thinking. I'm thinking the same thing.

I just, I'm, I. Yeah, well, I mean, we just gotta, we just gotta, again, we gotta be better with the 40B process and make sure the zoning, make sure the left hand and the right hand know what's going on here and make sure staff is monitoring it. That is a fee that they didn't need relief from.

100% agree. Yep.

[Speaker 5] (55:02 - 55:04)
And is, has this ship sailed?

[Speaker 2] (55:04 - 55:12)
I can't answer that, but I'm just telling you the things I do know. It makes, so I'm not optimistic, Mary Ellen, but I'm not, I can't say any more than that.

[Speaker 5] (55:13 - 55:46)
So, and I'd also like, I'd like, it was months and months, I think it was probably like four months ago, five months ago, we're supposed to get an update on the actual I&I fee fund. That fund was, I think we were expecting to bring in about $250,000 a year, or was it every other year? It's either 250 every year or every other year, and I just wanna know where we're at and I'd like some type of an audit, in-house audit, you know, somebody just to look at it and report back to us on where we are with that.

[Speaker 2] (55:47 - 55:52)
I'm happy to ask our finance team to provide that. Do you think we can just do that with the quarterly financials?

[Speaker 5] (55:52 - 55:52)
Yeah.

[Speaker 2] (55:53 - 55:56)
If you include that as part of the quarterly financials, that would be a good way of just capturing that.

[Speaker 5] (55:57 - 56:02)
I just wanna know where we are, because the numbers, the last time we looked at it, the numbers are really, really off.

[Speaker 2] (56:06 - 56:25)
I think that's gonna be consistent, Mary Ellen, I'm just gonna, my two cents, I think that's consistent with the fact that our new growth numbers are really off, just to be honest with you, right? And so what's happening is the larger building permits aren't being issued, and so these one-off bedrooms don't pay, they pay $1,000, $2,000 at a time, so it's not. So I think that probably, my guess is there's a correlation there.

[Speaker 5] (56:25 - 56:25)
Yeah.

[Speaker 2] (56:28 - 56:29)
Anything else?

[Speaker 5] (56:29 - 56:30)
No, thank you.

[Speaker 4] (56:31 - 56:51)
I'm good, thank you. Thanks. All right, we'll move on to public comment.

Public comment is when residents can come up and address any matter of things. You'll have three minutes. Step right up, yeah, go ahead.

[Speaker 2] (56:53 - 56:54)
David, did you wanna exclude?

[Speaker 6] (56:55 - 56:56)
Items that are on the agenda?

[Speaker 4] (56:56 - 57:09)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm sorry. We'll exclude items that are on the agenda. Just say that again, I'm sorry.

We'll exclude items that are currently listed on our agenda, but go ahead, sir.

[Speaker 6] (57:09 - 57:15)
Can I make sure this is working? Ethan's gonna help you out. All right.

[Speaker 11] (57:16 - 59:25)
Good evening, Alex Shavazadeh, 155 Elmwood Road, I think, Precinct 4. Forgive me, I'm not the happiest camper at the moment. First of all, just on tonight's basis, I wanna say apology accepted for starting 40 minutes late.

Missed my one-year-old's bedtime tonight, so thanks for that. I also note with interest the Chair's comments at the start regarding public comment. What I've prepared to say tonight was prepared after the meeting of February 12th, and I think the sentiment still does apply.

What's been quite evident to me, and a few folks that I've spoken to in town, is that there's a bit of a virus going around, a bit of a culture of disdain and disrespect for residents of this town, and that's not just about public comment in these meetings. Three weeks ago, we heard that one select board member has degraded a Swanscot resident, a neighbor of mine, as righteous and as zealot for continuing to speak up about the desperate situation on Kings and Fisherman's Beach. That same meeting, we saw a Chair of Select Board shush and click his fingers at a member of the public for daring to speak up beyond the two minutes.

I'm here to remind you folks, you work for us. You're in this position because we in the town have gone out and voted, have done our civic duty, and said to you, we trust you to do the work that keeps the town running. We've got real problems.

We've got a housing crisis, we've got polluted beaches, and now apparently there's issues of reputation of our town administration. For me, it's time you knuckled down, started to consider why there is so much disquiet and disappointment in town government among so many residents, and I think you know it's out there, because I've certainly heard it. When we engage with our members of government, we expect nothing short of professionalism, courtesy, and respect for taking the time and effort to engage with our public servants.

When you degrade us over email, and click your fingers at us in public, it smacks of the opposite. Frankly, it makes me think that something's rotten in the town of Swampscot, and it's not just the sewage that we're pumping on our beaches with abandon. Thank you.

Thank you.

[Speaker 13] (59:38 - 1:01:11)
Hi, I'm Martha Caesars. I live at 80 Nathan Road, Precinct 5. I'm here to make a statement about some of the articles I think we'll be talking about later on.

There's gonna be a warrant. I wanna make a public statement tonight to the Select Board because I believe that some members of the Select Board and the town moderator are manipulating a vote of the special town meeting on December 20, 2023. I do not believe that it's the role of the Select Board members and the town moderator to find a way to get around a town meeting vote.

At the December town meeting, person after person, students spoke against the location of the pickleballs, not the source of funding. The town moderator allowed people to express their strong belief that placing pickleball courts in the flood zone will increase flooding. There'll be increase in noise and reduction of parking for the residents in our town.

The town moderator did not say anything about their comments that they weren't related to what the article was speaking to. When the vote was taken, the town moderator did not explain that if it failed, the Select Board would find a way to bring it back to town meeting to vote it again. To me, this bringing the pickleball plan back to town meeting is a perfect example of why voting doesn't make a difference.

And it may be one of the reasons why there is such a low voter turnout in this town. Thank you. Thank you.

[Speaker 9] (1:01:30 - 1:04:37)
Hi, folks. Mara Lau, Outlook Road, Precinct 3, town meeting member. First, a happy thing.

I would like to give a big shout out to Andrea Moore and Elizabeth Smith for being the Swamp Scots People of the Year in Mullenitem. I think that they're really true leaders of the community that kind of have a mission. And I appreciate that they were recognized for that.

I just wanted to make sure that they got a special shout out for that because I think it's really important. Okay, so here I am about Hadley again, and I will continue to be. Briefly, the meeting on February 12th that held the vote to decide on which RFP.

Although it may have been a unanimous decision, I really felt it needed more public deliberation and that the vote didn't actually have to happen that night. A two-night deliberation on a vote and decision changing the largest piece of town land that we will ever have to decide on. It should have happened over a couple of nights.

And I felt like that that certainly could have happened and so that it wasn't a rush and a push through decision. And that maybe somebody else would have come to the meeting to talk about it because, yes, I have been frustrated that people have not been coming to the meetings to talk about the fact that we are about to lose an enormous piece of land that the town actually owns adjacent to forever land. We're losing opportunities for our community.

We're sitting here talking about community building. We talk about it all the time. It is incredibly important.

We talk about it because it is incredibly important. There was a better way for that piece of property. There is a better way for that piece of property to be used.

A hotel may work for our financial well-being and certainly we need to find finances. That is a huge piece. It should be the Hawthorne site.

The Hawthorne site would be a better suited hotel. I hope you'll rethink and reconsider and look at that as being a bigger income maker and that those maybe are some of the conversations that you could be having in your executive meetings to have those quiet meetings and then figure out a way and a process to put it out to the community so that we will try to figure out how to draw people in and engage them a little bit more. Opportunities for our community, build opportunities for the long term.

So let's keep that in mind.

[Speaker 4] (1:04:37 - 1:04:38)
Thank you, Ms. Lau.

[Speaker 9] (1:04:39 - 1:04:39)
Thank you.

[Speaker 4] (1:04:51 - 1:05:03)
We have a hand on Teams. Okay. Hi, Andrea, good evening.

[Speaker 15] (1:05:06 - 1:06:05)
Andrea, you cannot unmute yourself. Hey, guys, sorry about that. I'm stepping out of kids' bed time.

Can you guys hear me okay? Yes. Okay, awesome.

So I just, you know, I was listening to the town administrator's report and I couldn't help but feel a little bit uncomfortable because it seems like the image that's being painted isn't quite the dynamic that's happening with the EPA. The EPA is not happy with Mumpscot and we cannot continue to wait for a, you know, a beach opening solution. We do have to continue pursuing IDDE and fixing our pipes and sometimes it seems as though these are interchangeable and they are very much not.

We are multiple years behind our consent decree and the EPA is noticing and I just really hope that the select board takes that seriously so that we're not subject to additional fines. Appreciate it, thank you.

[Speaker 4] (1:06:05 - 1:06:21)
Thank you. All right, seeing no additional comments in the room or online, we'll move on. Okay, sorry Steve.

[Speaker 8] (1:06:25 - 1:09:41)
Steve Riley, Precinct Five, Willow Terrace. Despite failing at town meeting months earlier and with no planning since, this board wishes to plop four pickleball courts in the center of the only beach, recreation, and sports parking in Phillips Park. Last year, the select board prioritized better beach parking access to Phillips Beach by designating more on-street parking.

Beach access is a public good for all residents. Most agreed and spots were added. The only beach access parking for Eisman's and Wales Beach is the lot in Phillips Park.

There is no street parking anywhere near Eisman's or Wales and it cannot be rezoned for it. That lot is it for family residents. Over the months, the Community Development Committee has simply ignored legitimate parking concerns.

Now obviously, four regulation-sized pickleball courts which measure at a minimum 80 by 120 feet or half the width of a football field and nearly half as long as half a football field will displace lots of parking. According to an online parking calculator, the court footprint itself would take up 26 spots, half, almost half of all the available parking in that lot. Parking for the players and waiters must also be part of the overall plan, but again, we haven't heard anything from the committee.

No planning, but four courts is 16 players, a minimum of 12 parked cars. Other municipalities have learned that pickleball spots need to be doubled, so that would be 24 here. To accommodate the waiters.

So 26 plus 24 means as many as 50 beach access spots would be lost to pickleball. So is this board in support of better access to our beaches or isn't it? You add 40 spots there, you take away 50 here, and there is no other place for those 50 people to park.

With the turf field supporting multiple sports clinics, practices, and camps throughout the spring, through summer, and into late fall, the paved lot, which was designed for field parking, cannot handle 50 additional parkers. To my knowledge, the only site test, now done twice, was a sound test, done by whacking a pickleball with a racket and having a fireman measure the decibels some distance away. Sound is not the issue here.

This is like a Monty Python skit where clueless local officials do the racquetball sound test and give the project a toothy thumbs up while standing in eight inches of flood water. And flooding is the other ignored elephant in this room. I hope you all read former Conservation Committee member Mark Mahoney's letter about flooding there.

It's available on the Swampscot Facebook page, Swampscot Nest, and the Swampscot Times. As you all know, there are other better suited locations for the courts. Putting Phillips Park on the grant application is clearly a mistake.

It's up to this board tonight to keep that clerical mistake out of our real lives. A board vote for this location is really a vote against everyone else in the community who uses it.

[Speaker 4] (1:09:51 - 1:09:54)
All right. Frank.

[Speaker 6] (1:10:01 - 1:10:02)
Frank you can unmute.

[Speaker 7] (1:10:04 - 1:10:08)
All right, you guys got me now? We got you. Yep.

All right.

[Speaker 4] (1:10:09 - 1:10:12)
So I wait join name and name and address, please

[Speaker 7] (1:10:13 - 1:13:35)
Frank Smith six Archer Thank you So I'm trying to understand the ins and outs of the entire Argument that's been happening over the last however many weeks at this point As someone who has kind of sat on the outside and tried to understand both sides of it The one thing that I keep coming up with is there's two arguments that seem to be be Seems to be being made regarding parking as well as potential alternate sites And so to that regard I'm trying to understand where the parking issue may be in question given that Recreational boaters have now been removed from that lot opening up many many areas for parking I've been down there on numerous occasions for my children's soccer games and other sporting events as well as you know just in general during the summer trying to access the park and It seems to me that there's an overabundance of out-of-town cars that seem to be Flooding that lot and the parking issue perhaps in the coming year or two may be mitigated by having less of those boats there I Can't help but wonder if the parking issue is a non-issue at this point Given that the recreational boaters have now been removed from that lot, but I also at the same time wonder With that being the main access point is part of the pressure that's being felt in terms of parking related to lack of enforcement in an area that should be recreational parking and To that regard I guess When we looked at what we did with Phillips Park, or I'm not sorry Phillips Beach opening up those spaces definitely alleviated some of the problem areas that we had and some of the issues with parking and access Do we now have sort of a net zero gain where?

We have now created an area where there is increased access by not having boats there by not having the trailers there by Opening that area. Is this something that has been considered in terms of Where we're at at this point In the larger picture of things I have to imagine that if Anything a little bit more structure in the parking situation down there might alleviate some of the issue that people are feeling. I can't imagine that pickleball is the end-all be-all in this town in terms of Where people want to kind of it's not the hill that I want to die on Hey, thank you for verbally, but I definitely want to Just kind of put that out there in terms of I don't understand if there is an alternative location What's the alternative location and you Frank?

[Speaker 12] (1:13:35 - 1:15:12)
Thank you Thank you All right seeing sorry My name is Stephanie Newman 53 Ocean View Road Precinct 5. I am a town meeting member. I Sympathize with so many perspectives presented this evening We love our town as one person said we voted you in because we thought you loved our town as well And we see so many issues that go against the welfare of the town and what the people in the town want Two articles that were referenced were written by professionals.

They are on the swamp Scott Facebook times and nest pages They are written by professionals they have to do with the flooding situation and the acoustics of pickleball They describe precisely in detail understandable by the layperson exactly objectively Scientifically why there are problems with putting pickleball courts at Phillips Park I urge everybody to read them and understand them if you go ahead and decide you think Pickleball courts should be placed at Phillips Park after having read those articles It's akin to a medical doctor giving you an article about what happens in Objective specific detail if you put your hand in a pot of boiling water and you go ahead and put your hand in anyway Thank you

[Speaker 4] (1:15:13 - 1:21:18)
Thank you All right seeing no one else in the room or online we'll move on And with the indulgence of the board, we'll take up.

We'll take article three agenda item three out of order So before we do I just have a couple comments to make Just personally for me I've replayed the beginning of our of our February 12th meeting in my head a number of times and I'm disappointed for a number of reasons One of my major regrets is that my colleagues and I sat silently while our town administrator was verbally attacked During publicly comment public comment as a result of a completely one-sided article published by the Lynn item Lynn item article included only a recitation of two unsubstantiated and unadjudicated Complaints filed against the town without any attempt to truly investigate or seek the truth of these complaints In order to protect the rights of both the complainant and the accused the MCAD complaints and Responses to the complaints as a matter of course are not made public if and until a finding a probable cause is issued by MCAD Only the town and those individuals who file an MCAD complaint have this information The town did not disclose this information consistent with its practice of protecting the privacy of every single town of Swampskate employee Including in this case the complainant a current town employee and the town administrator also a current town employee The party that did disclose it to the Lynn item however purposefully failed to also disclose the town's written response to the MCAD complaint Thereby preventing a fair and balanced understanding of the situation Please ask yourself. Why didn't that person want to also share the town's response?

The response contains a lengthy discussion of the select board's detailed investigation of the employees complaint including the context and circumstances surrounding the complaint tonight We are in an unfortunate position of having to decide Whether to release the town's response to the MCAD complaint filed by a current town employee against another current town employee This decision requires us to balance the rights of each employee and the interests of the public in understanding the full facts and circumstances surrounding the complaint as Opposed to only the one-sided account provided by the Lynn item Under the town charter the select board oversees the town administrator who in turn Oversees the operations of the town including overseeing all employees of the town of Swampskate It's our responsibility to ensure that the town administrator fulfills his responsibilities But as it is also our responsibility to ensure that the town administrator receives every protection afforded to all employees It is significant to note that the town administrator has encouraged the select board to release all facts and information Regarding this complaint and welcomes full transparency Without disclosing the contents of the town's response to the MCAD complaint I will note the following actions undertaken by the select board in this matter Prior to the MCAD complaint being filed by the current employees number one select board was made aware of the allegation by email in early 22 in our early August of 22 and Met no less than five times in non-public executive session between August of 22 and February of 23 To discuss and investigate the complaint The select board was advised at all times by outside Employment Council to be sure the allegation was fully investigated Number three during this five-month period Select board member Katie Phelan and the town's HR director advised throughout by town Employment Council Jointly interviewed the complainant town administrator and the three other relevant parties for based on the investigation Select board member Katie Phelan and the town's HR director recommended the following findings to the entire select board a That the town administrator did not violate the town's any harassment policy Nor did his conduct events bias against the employee on the basis of their gender sex be Second even if one were to conclude that the that the conduct was sexual or biased we did not find evidence suggesting that it had the purpose or effect of substantially interfering with the employees employment or creating an intimidating hostile or offensive employment environment as protected in the policy and Finally that the town should distribute its any harassment policy annually and conduct training regarding the policy for all personnel at least every three years and five select board voted to accept these recommendations and To include an additional requirement that the town administrator take a refresher course on discrimination and sexual harassment Both the complaining employee and the town administrator were notified of these findings The select board respects every employee's right to file complaints relative to their workplace and employment while the select board stands by its findings and denies the allegations contained in the MCAD complaint these positions in no way reflect negatively on the Complaining employees position or employment with the town of Swampskate and the employees ongoing contribution to our community Tonight we're not going to take a vote this evening And the board will not answer any questions any additional questions at this time However, if there are members of the public who would like to rise and speak by all means, please do so No, okay, I just want to make sure okay.

[Speaker 1] (1:21:19 - 1:32:56)
Well you're centered to where I'm looking I Think I just want to I guess I just I don't know if this time I wanted to give space I think I to the chair to give the town administrator space if he Yeah, I would be happy to say a few things Really difficult to sit here and hear people cast aspersions You know over the last two weeks. I've thought a little bit about You know the issues that I've had to deal with as a town administrator look we we live in such a Difficult time. It seems easy for people to show up and in just cast aspersions.

I've had a number of individuals file complaints You know that Haven't Really Have Any findings of shortcomings, but it's easy for folks to do that because this is a political tactic it's not a An administrative effort to try to help strengthen this town government. What it is is Retaliation for things that I believe that I've had to do that frankly We don't typically talk publicly about we've kept those things very quiet but I think it's important for people to understand that You know when I started in this town it was quite evident to me that we had a great deal of patronage and and frankly nepotism We didn't have the standards for professionalism that frankly I felt this town deserved We had finances that were frankly Out-of-whack the town had struggled with so many initiatives. We ignored You know incredible infrastructure for generations our schools were falling apart I Had to make some dramatic changes to town operations. I had to reorganize departments I had to make staffing changes and so folks have seemed fit to Look at some of those changes and criticize me for Some of those professional responsibilities that have helped us strengthen our Town standing we've gone from a double-a-minus bond rating from Standard & Poor's and Moody's to a double-a to a double-a plus to a triple-a over the last six years.

That's a an absolute night and day change, but it has Been the result of making sure that we have some of the most extraordinary and talented individuals working for this town and and these changes sometimes Have represented conflict it's important for folks to understand that Public service is not Easy, I don't I don't have a problem at all with somebody showing up and in criticizing us. We're not perfect We don't make every decision perfect, but we we've worked very hard to try to Raise the standards for professionalism. It's pretty ironic to me to hear complaints to that somehow We're not Doing enough to actually Support training I as soon as I got here we did training we we brought training to Every department on sexual harassment on making sure that we Treat each other more equitably more fairly We've started community programs.

We've started pride celebrations. We've started Black History Month programs. I Initiated Efforts to take Swampskates Police and Fire Department out of civil service That was opposed.

I we we had one of our police officers at a public meeting said that she surveyed 26 out of the 31 police officers and all 26 were opposed to leaving civil service. I Sat in front of every police officer and firefighter and said we need to change because it had been 17 years since we hired a woman for either one of the departments and We hadn't hired Black or brown Person You know in 30 years We went through a very difficult time. We negotiated contracts and to the police and fire unions credit they agreed to transition on a civil service, but it it was Very difficult.

I've sat in bargaining room Sessions where I've had Union employees Call me the enemy call my colleagues the enemy This is visceral. I want people to understand these changes have been incredibly difficult But what has it helped us to do? It's helped us hire the most diverse number of individuals in the town's history But The price I'm paying right now is that I have individuals casting aspersions unfairly.

I have people mobilized because they think they're gonna show up and and try to say what the town's off-kilter because We're building a hundred million dollar elementary school We've finally found a way to balance the budget and to start looking at investments in infrastructure buying oceanfront Parcels and giving this town the support it long since needed and so we have a handful of people that seem to Tell us at one point to be kinder to be nicer to speak more politely to each other but yet they Use some of the worst language to describe Their elected officials or Public servants to me That can't I can't be the only one that sees that right?

I can't be the only one that that sees these interests that are seeking to Undermine everything that we've sought out to try to accomplish to build a more diverse equitable and inclusive community Frankly when I when I when I read the article in the paper, I thought to myself I can't Uh Surprise, I was surprised that somebody released it because typically, you know that information stays confidential and we work through a process That protects employees and protects individuals from you know aspersions that might be cast But that went out without any Any side of the town's position and for me, there's so much to that that is important for people to understand because You know, it's been weaponized and and it's just unfair if any of my employees were Attacked like that I would have an affirmative responsibility to step in between that and protect them from that type of misinformation in fact, I had a employee this past year that was Unfairly treated at an academy and I had to intervene I had to show up at the academy director's office to ensure that he had protections for procedural justice that term actually should ring a bell because I Actually had to hold our police department accountable a few years ago for that very same reason because we had lapses in Procedural justice We had a six-month investigation we had number of Individuals identified in a report that's on our website that said we had work to do I don't expect any of my colleagues in public life to be perfect But I do I do have a problem when they start to retaliate and they start to Vilify their colleagues because of our Responsibilities to do our job.

We all have difficult jobs to do. My job is to hold Town employees accountable. It's also to protect them.

It's also to ensure that we have standards of professionalism and excellence That report Provided a detailed review of Incredible lapses and and frankly, it's it's ironic to me to see Some of these complaints because they they do smack to me of retaliation and And when I look at the number of issues that I've had to deal with in the police department One of the first things that happened to me was I had to go to a house and I had two police cruisers show up and Tactically shut down the street when I was literally visiting a house to talk to a neighbor about our rail trail and for me, this was the beginning of the type of intimidation and the type of incredible pressure that Local officials have to face When they come into a town and they start to bring change I've sat at bargaining room tables where I've had to negotiate the end of guaranteed overtime or minimum manning For police officers and firefighters that saved the town over a hundred and twenty thousand dollars a year But that frankly was a very difficult thing to bargain I had union members threatened to flip the table over with me these are the Challenges that I've had to face This they're serious and they're complicated and they're in play and They're part of this effort to Try to convince people to gaslight me and to say that all of these efforts have been You know Not part of who I am in terms of trying to build a more inclusive trying to build a more Respectful and civil town It's unfortunate, I know that everybody can kind of think oh geez, you know, I've read the paper that must be true I'm just telling you it's it's not you've got one side of it and It just is not fair

[Speaker 4] (1:33:06 - 1:33:10)
I thought we're gonna have public comment.

[Speaker 2] (1:33:10 - 1:33:19)
Well for this You did do public comment for this matter. So are we having more public comment? Are we doing the public?

We're talking amongst ourselves. Thank you with the town administrator. Thank you

[Speaker 1] (1:33:21 - 1:36:28)
Look I'm just gonna conclude I have a lot Yep there is and and frankly I will tell you You know We're all innocent stay on you to stay on your remarks, but we're all innocent Until the facts prove us things otherwise and and as David had mentioned earlier, you know We spent months looking into this in in in Great detail individuals were interviewed and statements were taken I took detailed notes of every one of the interviews and and for me I feel bedrock confident that what I have done has been to protect and to support standards of professionalism for this town, um, I also want to share that You know There was a great deal of pressure put on me to hire Individuals that I did not want to hire.

There were newspaper articles. You can google it You can see that I actually rejected a number of candidates that were presented to me These are individuals that frankly I just did not feel Comfortable moving forward at the time. I moved forward with one person, but it it became such a frustration for individuals in the police union They threatened to a reverse Discrimination suit they threatened to do things that were absolutely absurd to try to force me to Accept recommendations that I just didn't want to accept In spite of all of that in December.

We hired the most diverse For in the most diverse group of police officers each one of these jobs Their 20 or 30 year careers Ten of our police officers last year made over two hundred thousand dollars one made over two hundred and fifty three thousand dollars These are life-changing generational changing jobs and and for me If we made a commitment to be more diverse and we had town meeting vote on this and we had Many months of debating we were not going to be pyrrhic about it We were going to actually do this and we were going to support this With our best efforts I've demanded that I will continue to demand that I won't equivocate and yes, I Didn't want to have to talk about this tonight.

I I don't feel it serves anybody but If you're gonna put it out there, I'm gonna talk and I'm gonna talk and I'm gonna talk I am NOT gonna just let this go without a response. This town deserves better generations of Residents of this town deserve better the future generations the past generations.

[Speaker 5] (1:36:29 - 1:37:06)
We all deserve better Completely unfair Thanks I think we got a lot of problems here And I'm not gonna make any personnel comments tonight Tomorrow we're burying Tom Lucas and that's what I want to focus on. So Everybody has said what they wanted to say. I really want to hear the budget

[Speaker 2] (1:37:13 - 1:38:07)
So respectfully Mary Ellen we didn't choose the topic and I and I see that you just wrote the word help to Katie on your notepad and so so I Appreciate Sean that you had an opportunity and it probably does infuriate people when you actually have a chance to speak and actually share things that that people do not Order here because it's not convenient to a narrative.

So mr. Chairman. I have some things that I would like to say tonight as well Order Mr. Chairman, you're that you're the chair.

[Speaker 4] (1:38:07 - 1:38:18)
I'm not Mr. Stelios is speaking currently so order, please So Mr. Chairman, I believe you did offer it.

[Speaker 2] (1:38:18 - 1:38:20)
No one answered and we moved on correct.

[Speaker 4] (1:38:20 - 1:38:41)
You're the chair You decide that is that is what happened. I looked I looked straight ahead at officer at officer Hennessey He said no, and then we went we moved right into the discussion Continued so thank you again Sean for saying what you said There Are no easy choices remaining In Swampscott.

[Speaker 2] (1:38:42 - 1:47:00)
Well, there's actually one easy choice Sean you choose not to take it and that's doing nothing Wasn't that longer that nothing happened in Swampscott Decades went by with no investment in our water and sewer infrastructure years went by without Controls on the operating budgets or attempts to reduce taxes Generations went by without any investment in our school buildings and yet some are still surprised that we had failing schools Sewage contamination on our beaches and the single-family single highest single-family tax bill in Essex County We had a choice and seven years ago. We made a choice We could have continued the easy decision of doing nothing and ignoring the compound of our problems Or the town could do what it did over the last seven years The town acknowledged its shortcomings and began to do hard things to make hard decisions This right here Confirms why they're so hard Because very few people object when you don't do anything They object and whether they're small constituencies or large constituencies about any distinct decision It gets construed that if a dozen people show up about pickleball The town doesn't want pickleball notwithstanding the fact that 65% of town meeting voted for pickleball No One in this town No one not me not any of my board members not my past board members Not any staff in this town has been asked to do more hard things than a town administrator It is actually what he is paid to do what town ministers should be paid to do and that town administrators before our current account Administrator didn't many times they took the easy path They just agreed to the contracts that had at times ridiculous provisions provisions that we could not afford And as a result of this we ended up with high taxes, but we don't like high taxes But we don't want to have hard negotiations because we don't want to hurt the feelings of employees that do hard work for us We all agree But that vicious cycle has to break The town administrator brought his expertise over two decades to break that cycle The changes required the town administrator to exam examine every expense in our budget to engage in difficult contract negotiations to eliminate positions to move personnel on to other careers Additionally, it's included many community building initiatives something that was rare if not invisible in Swampscott just seven years ago Expanded farmers markets concert series diversity celebration days an unprecedented increase in recreational activities for families Beer gardens and more and more providing a food pantry who were thought that we would use public resources for a food pantry Supporting a local arts Nonprofit and yes leaving civil service a hiring system that is widely recognized for failing to hire and advance a diverse group of candidates with diverse backgrounds and experience in January We welcome the first ever black police cadet the first ever black police cadet Prior to 2022 the last black person ever interviewed for our fire department was in 1989 In 2022 we had no female firefighters. We now have two In 2022 we had only one female police officer on staff.

We now have five If you do not see the benefit of these changes, then there is nothing I am going to say tonight that will convince you otherwise These were and continue to be hard changes to problems many generations in the making Many people had to make changes to the way they did things their budgets their hiring practices and more and While the town administrator goes out of his way at any chance to commend the men and women of the town of spawn Swampscott Most especially the pay public safety unions for their support of these changes The truth is not that simple and the praise is not always completely earned Throughout the process and to this day there are some that are unhappy about and resist change and Some of those individuals in my opinion Have gone out of the way to express their displeasure by focusing it on the town administrator Including in my opinion with the leak of non-public and unsubstantiated complaint without similarly providing a copy of the town's response That they were similarly in possession of There is a reason they didn't want you to see the town's response. You should ask why? If the goal was to educate the public then both the complaint and the town's response would have been leaked But they weren't and the inescapable conclusion I and many have come to is the leak was designed solely to embarrass and bring scorn to the town administrator Well that worked Following days of irresponsible and inflammatory rhetoric on social media about the town Administrator during public comments at our February 12th meeting the scorn and ridicule feel was brought in full With the room filled many with many faces people of people who have previously shown dissatisfaction with some of the changes we have experienced people cheered upon as a resident took to the microphone and Introduced themselves and shared that they had a human resource background for a large university The resident then proceeded to scold the board and refer to the purported actions of the town administrator as disgusting That's a quote disgusting While condemning him and I quote quote cultivating an environment of hostility negativity and absolute disgrace At no time did this human resource professional ask the board for any clarification regarding the unsubstantiated claim At no point did this human resource professional ask us whether the town has a response to the unsubstantiated complaint At no point did this human resource professional seek to help the community better understand the situation instead opting To lecture the board and to shame and ridicule the town administration based on half information at best. I Want to be clear? I have no way no issue with anyone lecturing me as a matter of fact that evening the resident went out of her way to To include me in her remarks that is perfectly fine Although we're volunteers we all and we all volunteer for this all this is a volunteer position and we all volunteer for this Everyone has the right to criticize us.

It just comes with it. It sucks It doesn't feel good, but it comes with it. Everybody here should feel as much as possible to criticize us But I'm not okay With this unfair unsubstantiated and unbalanced criticism of the town administrator Without providing the town administrator with the due process afforded every employee in every workplace including at large universities Thank you to the chair for his comments tonight, I appreciate You sharing the work that was done over five months Thank you to my colleague Katie Phelan who spent countless hours Overseeing this Interviewing talking with counsel and coordinating this so we made sure that we had a fair full and accurate investigation Sean I'm sorry I'm sorry that I remain quiet on the 12th And opted instead to allow public comment to be employed to scorn and ridicule you without any sense of fairness or balance I'm sorry You said it tonight you would never have stood for that for another employee You would have stood up and taking every bit of their artillery directed at that employee I have seen it and some of the same employees that are criticizing now are the ones that you stood up for and took artillery I'm Grateful for your efforts and your sacrifices. I appreciate even more that you're aware of your shortcomings and That you work to be better and you continue to work to be better. We all can do better Finally, I appreciate your interest in taking the unusual step of asking that all the facts in the situation be disclosed It is only fair that they are disclosed.

So people even if they don't want the facts Have the opportunity to see the facts John Adams is famous for saying facts are stubborn things and Whatever may be our wishes our inclinations or the dictates of our passion. They cannot alter the state of facts and evidence Thank You, Mr. Chairman Thank you All right Let's let's move on.

[Speaker 1] (1:47:01 - 1:51:46)
Let's talk about the presentation the discussion of the town administrators proposed fiscal year 25 budget I Want to just before we begin I want to thank all of our department heads and Town staff that worked over the last few months to to pull together this budget This budget is the town's single biggest policy initiative it is a Process this isn't the end of the process. This is the beginning this gives us a chance to kind of look at you know where we are and and how we're balancing the town's revenue with Operational expenses the proposed budget as it stands increases by 2.9% The school budget, you know as presented in this budget increases by three point eight four percent The general fund of this budget is seventy two million 195 thousand school budget is thirty two million Ninety-nine those are fairly healthy increases We're going to get into Specifics if we can advance the So this budget continues efforts to balance a lot of the structural needs of the town you know the vision for Swampskin includes priorities identified and various capital improvement plans and supports many of the investments that we've talked about for diversity equity inclusion also balances some of the fiscal priorities, it's not Everything that we wanted it's a budget that does provide stable Investments though. Certainly we could have leaned harder into a number of line items But this year we're building a brand new elementary school. We have still a number of challenging dynamics that are Affecting our school system related to the pandemic we have students that are struggling.

I've had the opportunity to tour Our schools and work with our assistant superintendent And discuss some of the challenges with special education Over the last few years. We've made extraordinary progress Maintaining levels of service. We've built up our financial reserves through really difficult financial Sacrifices and as I mentioned earlier, you know, we've increased our bond rating Significantly to help protect and help enhance You know our limited dollars.

Oh, we have a lot to be proud about just a few short years ago We were struggling with many of these responsibilities and now we are really truly building a thriving dynamic and diverse community Next slide So this budget as I mentioned meets our current responsibilities it does help us maintain some of those Standards for long-term maintenance and capital improvements the budget continues that hard work of balancing these priorities and Infrastructure needs that we've neglected for decades This point I'm going to turn it over to our director of finance and administration Amy Sorrow Amy's gonna step us through the changes in the line item budgets and Patrick will talk a little bit about the revenue and I'll Pick it back up towards the end

[Speaker 3] (1:51:48 - 1:53:18)
So the FY 25 proposed budget General fund and enterprise funds totals eighty one million two thirty three six forty four It's balanced using conservative estimates of state-of-the-milk receipts and the proposed budget ensures adequate resources were provided Next slide As I said, this is the overview of the eighty one million dollar proposed budget the general government Fortune is thirty three percent community development is one public safety ten percent Public services two and a half percent human services one and a half percent public education is forty point two percent foot noted that that does include the regional school not just the appropriation to the public school And then eleven percent for the enterprise funds. These percentages are in line with Where our budget has consistently been the past few years This is just an overview of our current reserve balances So since 2020 we have increased our reserves by 4% As of right now It will be in a later slide too, but general and capital stabilization are still below the low end of our policy and We understand that but we are still in a better position than we were before

[Speaker 1] (1:53:19 - 1:55:05)
Probably important to just highlight, you know, this is really where the rating agencies took a real hard look at You know our excess levy capacity just a few years ago We had members on the Finance Committee talking about doing an underwrite where we'd actually I know but if you read our Rating agencies comment. They recognize the fact that we had a reserve or excess levy capacity of seven point two million dollars Most cities and towns actually taxed right up to that two and a half levy capacity and Just a few years ago.

We were about $200,000 away from our levy capacity. We need an override. You don't have to look far to see Marblehead or many other communities around year after year looking for overrides because they're not living within their financial means We've built that stability Through many of these hard conversations about contracts and trying to be Absolutely careful with how we build these budgets It's it's important to note to that that 4% increase since FY 20 We've used reserves over the last couple of years. We've used every year. We've used money to Offset the levy and and that helps us keep a balance with how You know, we set the levy that's a different process, but it's certainly Important to just see that we've used the reserves every year substantially to help Mitigate the debt service for the new elementary school and help keep an ad an average impact to town residents at a prudent level

[Speaker 3] (1:55:10 - 1:55:25)
So We're gonna review the estimated revenues our budget process go through the highlights from the large sectors And then Sean will address ongoing challenges as well And I'm gonna turn it over to our treasure

[Speaker 10] (1:55:28 - 1:57:40)
Hi, so on this slide we have State aid which is the largest revenue source for the general fund outside of property tax Our Unrestricted local aid is forecasted to increase 3% Chapter 70 is forecasted to increase by 4.4 percent. We're seeing a decrease in charter tuition reimbursement These are preliminary numbers provided in governor Haley's budget historically Assessments Climb more rapidly than aid so we have another slide later on Addressing that next slide Afterstate a we have local receipts as our Next largest grouping of revenue for the general fund. We're projecting a modest increase in local receipts of 2% or $140,000 Estimates are conservative based on five and ten-year historical figures that we maintain in our department as well as What we're seeing coming in during the current fiscal year and our projections next slide This Is an overview of the FY 25 budget development process this really picked up January 4th Amy distributed guidance to all the department heads in town for budget proposals which department head was tasked with submitting an itemized needs based budget as well as a budget that Theorizes a 10% reduction so that we can identify Anything that can be trimmed or anything. That's a priority that needs to be maintained within the budgets And then we met with everybody in January and early February to take a look at what they had prepared and come up with a budget that works within our means but also maintains our level of service and each function of government and Just to kind of reiterate what?

Introductory remarks said our general fund budget is about 72 million dollars this year this complies with the local Levy policy, which is more restrictive than prop two and a half That is provided in state law and enterprise fund budgets are projected to be just over nine million dollars this year Inclusive of the solid waste enterprise fund.

[Speaker 2] (1:57:40 - 1:58:04)
That is our most recent addition And I'm going to turn it back to Amy to talk about the details of the budget I'm just asking that when you have time follow up with just the detail of the ends of the money to the solid waste I mean, it's a great new addition, right it's a It's something that hasn't been here before right? So let's just to track it to understand as we explore it because now we're gonna start saying why do we need it, right?

[Speaker 5] (1:58:05 - 1:58:07)
What do you mean the revenue?

[Speaker 3] (1:58:10 - 1:59:22)
I will say the vast majority of that is a tax subsidy But we do have revenues directly in there. So we will Include that with the quarterly understood. Thank you So The first cost center of the Budget is the administration and finance one.

This is three point five million dollars It is a nine point seven eight percent over the FY 24 budget. The vast majority of this is the salary reserve so as you remember the FY 24 salary reserve was Voted at zero for FY 24 at town meeting. So this includes Ongoing collective bargaining and employment contract negotiations.

We also have an increase in anticipated end of employment for a town and school side We also have a slight increase to our technology subscription costs Amy we have we have parking enforcement outside of public safety Yes, so this is if you are Fighting your ticket you speak with a parking enforcement officer who is not a public safety individual Thank you for the clarification.

[Speaker 1] (1:59:23 - 1:59:35)
That person is our facilities director. He's also an attorney. So he adjudicates matters very deftly Max customer is a multi-pack.

[Speaker 5] (1:59:36 - 1:59:38)
Do we have a reserve on end of employment?

[Speaker 3] (1:59:39 - 1:59:57)
We do we voted one before but we still in establishing the End of employment reserve fund. We did agree that we would still budget for end of employment costs that are known Individuals have raised their hand saying I anticipate that I will be retiring in the upcoming fiscal year.

[Speaker 2] (1:59:57 - 2:00:48)
We do budget for them So do you have to Mary Ellen's further point? I think which has been do you have the detail of ins and outs as well just to help us understand? So great we've started this which is really great But so what have we tracked because we knew it what were surprises on the school side in the town side Just kind of at some point.

We'll see a rhythm. We're probably gonna see there a statistical importance of ones that are predicted versus not but I think that's gonna help us just Understand that. Yeah, I think my other question just sorry is Relative to the schools.

I know at one point you were having conversations with the former business director Maybe it's still going on with the current business director about things like Healthcare and of employment things of that nature that are in the school budget about either showing or reflecting them differently in the budget Is there I mean are we still any changes from fiscal year 24 and how we're doing this?

[Speaker 3] (2:00:48 - 2:01:01)
No, there's no change to the methodology of how we do it The school does provide us their end of employment costs in advance of preparing this budget And they are held to that so they do not get to tap into that reserve fund.

[Speaker 2] (2:01:01 - 2:01:15)
So are Great and so generally speaking though on those conversations that you were having are those continuing in a way to Reflect and show the costs appropriately amongst the political subdivisions. Yes

[Speaker 5] (2:01:16 - 2:01:48)
So I have a question with the schools They have to ask staff or their Staff has to identify that they are going to be retiring what excuse me They're thinking about retiring in the coming year, but they don't have to retire Correct school has to prepare for it So the question that I have is I would like to understand historically if they're booking X amount of dollars for the likelihood of retirement But what are the actuals? What have the actuals been?

Can you provide us with that information? I'd like to know what the actuals have been over the last four years

[Speaker 2] (2:01:50 - 2:01:54)
And do the town unions have the same requirement that they can tell you when they retire or is that

[Speaker 3] (2:01:56 - 2:02:08)
looser most of the unions do Our police union does not have the requirement and The town personnel does not have the requirement as well town personnel being non-union

[Speaker 2] (2:02:08 - 2:02:13)
So in those situations they happen when they happen because they don't have to tell you in advance, correct

[Speaker 3] (2:02:14 - 2:02:24)
the town Capped so it's not as expensive right and the and the union when some of the unions have age-outs

[Speaker 2] (2:02:24 - 2:02:32)
So you can predict on the age-outs those that are going before the age-out That you can't predict unless they say yes, okay. Thank you.

[Speaker 5] (2:02:32 - 2:02:52)
One more thing. Can you also send us? the I Think we have the dollar amount of what all the stabilization funds are Including the solid waste and everything, but could you also give us the percentages of where they are?

Like where they should be Within the financial guidelines. Yeah within the financial guidelines just the cheat sheets

[Speaker 2] (2:02:54 - 2:03:01)
A Solid waste count in those numbers Came afterwards, so I don't think it actually I don't know the financial guideline actually establishes

[Speaker 3] (2:03:01 - 2:03:19)
We didn't put one but there's not supposed to be any retained earnings for a solid waste So anything that is retained gets reinvested in the fund to reduce the tax subsidy to it Because we wouldn't want to keep 20% Or a percentage of retained earnings in solid waste when we're taxing people on it.

[Speaker 6] (2:03:19 - 2:03:24)
I got you I Can you say that one more again? I don't got you

[Speaker 3] (2:03:24 - 2:03:42)
So the unlike the water and sewer funds the solid waste enterprise fund is not self-sustaining So it is classified as a sub attack subsidized enterprise fund so we wouldn't want to have retained earnings in that because then you're just taxing the residents unnecessarily

[Speaker 6] (2:03:43 - 2:03:44)
Understood Thank you

[Speaker 3] (2:03:47 - 2:04:17)
Next slide is the community development, which is eight hundred ten thousand dollars This includes a proposed increase of fifty six thousand We have now filled the director of planning and land-use position as well as increase the land-use planner to a full-time position Thus now Finally filling all of the staffing positions within community development We also have an increase to the Historical Commission budget based off conversations that the town administrators had with them

[Speaker 1] (2:04:20 - 2:04:49)
We're looking at other historic properties that are worth preserving we're going to take a proactive approach to Preserving some properties that the town has a right of first refusal On and I've worked with the Historical Commission over the last few years to try to get ahead of trying to preserve buildings that have Been left derelict for 20 or 30 years and what's that dollar increase?

[Speaker 3] (2:04:50 - 2:04:52)
Yeah, it went from three thousand to five thousand

[Speaker 1] (2:04:55 - 2:05:00)
Might be interesting to see what happens if we get ahead of it Might

[Speaker 3] (2:05:00 - 2:05:52)
next The public services which is facilities public works snow and ice so we have a modest 0.9 percent increase in this With the majority of that being the rise in utility costs for municipal buildings Snow and ice is level funded to the appropriation from FY 24 Next is the public safety, which is two point seven nine percent over FY 24 25. Sorry This includes everything in the collective bargaining agreements I do want to just emphasize that FY 25 is the last year of the current collective bargaining agreements for police and fire We have an increase to the police expenses for the body camera annual contract And we did see a large increase to the Linn dispatch contract What is it?

[Speaker 5] (2:05:52 - 2:05:54)
What is a body camera annual?

[Speaker 2] (2:05:54 - 2:06:01)
Oh, okay, so we pay Mm-hmm We pay every patrolman Every every officer.

[Speaker 3] (2:06:01 - 2:06:05)
No. No, this isn't a payment to the police. This is a company.

[Speaker 2] (2:06:05 - 2:06:09)
That's in the contract for those. Yes The stipend is included.

[Speaker 3] (2:06:10 - 2:06:10)
Yes.

[Speaker 2] (2:06:10 - 2:06:11)
Got it.

[Speaker 3] (2:06:11 - 2:07:44)
That's already been budgeted. Thank you Next slide is human services. So it's a senior center veterans and library We have a two point four percent increase in this so we have continued investments in community programming for a senior center And for library as well as increased van driver line for the senior center The public and regional schools we have a decrease for the first year of fourteen point five eight percent to the regional voc school And then we have a three point eight four percent or one point one nine million increase to the public schools budget this does not include the Nahant tuition, which is one point eight percent.

I mean 1.8 million dollars. Sorry, it's late Next slide we had this slide last year. So we updated it.

So this is based off FY 24 This just shows the education costs that are covered in the general fund as well as the school appropriation. So For FY 24 approximately 63 percent of all general fund appropriation is for the school and education cost 44% of it being direct appropriation and the additional 19% being from indirect costs through IT retirement school resource officer obviously insurance So are you saying 63 cents of every dollar?

[Speaker 2] (2:07:45 - 2:08:21)
Goes towards the schools Yes, we just talk about the budget itself What That includes school debt So, can I just ask Going back to the public and the prior slide if you don't mind, can you just help us Contextualize this number at the school the superintendent and the school department So the school committee approved a budget of what amount and how does this compare to what they approved?

[Speaker 3] (2:08:22 - 2:08:56)
So this is 400,000 Roughly less than the school committee voted budget and later in the presentation the town administrator is recommending 200,000 to replenish the special education stabilization fund that was established previously as well as 250,000 into a utility Stabilization fund with 50,000 of that being for town buildings So that way they're not building

[Speaker 1] (2:08:56 - 2:10:47)
Issues brings up this budget to the superintendent's recommended budget or the budget. It's been approved by the school committee so it's a little bit of a different way to kind of Help address, you know some of those Additional concerns that have been presented What I've tried to do over the last few years is really stress how important it is for us to build a stable Operating budget that helps us, you know support stable tax levies build in structural support for ongoing Programs so that we can we can balance the financial priorities of the town when when we jack up Budgets year after year because of a pandemic or because you know fuel costs go up one year at 7% or health care costs go up by 8% and we're trying to keep tax levies at 2% or 3% You know wherever possible We should use our financial Resources our stabilization funds to have Opportunities To build relief. So if Electric utility costs go up by 8% one year because there's a an issue that we have no control over We can we can tap these stabilization funds While we're building stability in the operating budget so that we don't have to go back and solve that problem midstream where we have to cut twenty thousand dollars out of out of a line that You know is desperately needed this protects the integrity of an operating budget by by having stabilization funds that Support the operating budget in the event that we have escalations higher than a normal rate of growth

[Speaker 2] (2:10:49 - 2:12:14)
So, can I just ask then I'm just doing some quick math here So when you take both of those numbers, so let me say this way You've gotten effectively to the school budget the school committee approved budget, which by the way is Two and a half times the increase for town government I think if I'm doing my math look more than two times the increase for town government So we're gonna go back and talk about that because that's I don't know how that's sustainable But but nonetheless you are trying to get there, but you're doing it with the use of two stabilization funds which are a little bit misnomered because stabilization is for unforeseeable or choppy or or type of Unforeseeable menace, let's say choppy things to help smooth smooth increases so that it doesn't disrupt that budget on an annualized basis Here, I think we know Based on the school department approved budget and detailed conversations that I know you've had regarding some special education issues and Utility issues, especially given the new school coming online. I think it's fair correct me if I'm wrong that to assume that though that $400,000 again $50,000 for the town buildings But the $400,000 your expectation is unless the school department does something differently with their budget is Probably going to be used in fiscal year 25 Is that I mean am I just am I just I'm just saying it to put it out there because it feels like it's going To be used.

Yeah, and I'm not saying that's a bad thing. I'm just I'm just saying it so that so the

[Speaker 1] (2:12:15 - 2:13:30)
The expectation is yeah, if they need it, they could use it We I want to be able to come up with language with the superintendent and frankly with the select board in the school community say hey We're gonna use that if our experience and the budget demands for these particular areas Demand that because I I don't want this to be An opportunity to take utility funds and actually allocate them for for other things. I still believe that we have to build Discipline and stability into you know, our operating budgets because look we we have Broader responsibilities, you know, we you know this budget still, you know Doesn't invest in in our senior center as much as I believe we should We're trying to do more but you know, there are other pressure points in this budget and if we continue to just say You know, we just are gonna have budgets that go up by five percent or four and a half percent when we know that we have structural issues in other areas of the town we're gonna We're gonna wind up back in that position that we were just a few years ago

[Speaker 2] (2:13:30 - 2:13:40)
Just one more person. I'll see to Mary Ellen the Votech a reduction of eighty some odd thousand dollars. Is that how real is that and how much are we banking?

[Speaker 3] (2:13:40 - 2:13:48)
How much are we banking upon that number really hitting because that's obviously a that is the assessment letter that we have received from The vote it's on enrollment.

[Speaker 2] (2:13:48 - 2:13:55)
So that is from them No, no, I understand that but has that assessment letter ever been updated by the vote tech after they give you the initial one Not in my tenure.

[Speaker 5] (2:13:55 - 2:14:16)
All right So just I just want to go back to the schools with me the 200,000 for Special education. Yes, so that 200,000 goes into the stabilization I mean you follow the same policies and procedures of releasing money out of that.

[Speaker 3] (2:14:16 - 2:14:32)
Yeah, so it would follow the same agreement that the Superintendent and town administrator had previously signed where it is done Simply with the regular warrant vote of the school committee as they're processing an invoice and it just needs the town administrator signature

[Speaker 5] (2:14:32 - 2:14:38)
So it does not have to be publicly just thought the select board was involved in that decision That's just a school committee.

[Speaker 3] (2:14:38 - 2:14:54)
I actually I don't believe that would be the When the fund was established it was established that the town administrator with the vote of the school committee can expend from that fund Last it would go through the regular warrant process political debate.

[Speaker 2] (2:14:54 - 2:16:09)
Yeah, just let's bring it forward. I think it's been Yeah, I don't remember. I don't remember the answer to our question as well So let's bring that forward at another meeting so we can talk about that It was just yeah, I do want to look at I do want to say we're opening For the first time in how many years a new elementary school 1950 something.

I think was Clark, right? But we're opening up an elementary school for every kid in our town and this is not the year Especially when it comes to facilities and utilities and things of that nature. We need to set it on the right course Yes, and so I just appreciate I know You're sitting here cool as a cucumber right now But that's I know this number didn't come too easily because you have to starve other things in the short run to do this But I do want to just acknowledge that This is probably not the year and it's especially compounded because look at we are coming off of COVID We are coming off of a lot of one-time funds and schools worked really hard to to make sure they didn't Regularly use one-time funds for ongoing expenses, but you know, everybody needed that support during a time So I just I just want to thank you for I I'm gonna pass judgment on the budget later when we see what you starved But I in principle though, this is fundamentally important, especially as we bring this school I appreciate that.

[Speaker 1] (2:16:09 - 2:16:56)
I met with the facilities director today for about an hour and a half. We we talked about the complexity associated with the school's facilities the town's facilities the Good things that we're doing like there's a lot of good things happening but you know, the last thing we want to do is get into this in this year where we have a new school and we're Just not maintaining it. We're not doing the O&M, you know to the manual so, you know, I do think Making this alignment Hopefully will help us.

We're gonna learn a lot about the operation in that new school. We have assumptions But after a year of seeing that school work and being utilized and You know, we'll have a much better idea of what the financial impact will be.

[Speaker 2] (2:16:56 - 2:16:57)
Thank you

[Speaker 3] (2:16:57 - 2:17:08)
Though we will be developing the FY 26 budget with only a few months of the actual Since the school will only be open for four months at that point, but We will have actual information

[Speaker 6] (2:17:09 - 2:17:23)
So you had said that the school budget Was $400,000 or the that the this budget was $400,000 less than the school budget But adding the $200,000 in special education and did you say 200 or 250 in the utility?

[Speaker 3] (2:17:24 - 2:17:49)
So it's 250 200 of which was the school's requests So as we had the discussions with the school and as they did in their own presentation They were expecting and it's an increase of 200,000 to utility costs for the new school But they weren't anticipating that to be an ongoing cost. It's as they get a lot of the energy saving things online So that's why we didn't want to build the structural This of that into the operating budget.

[Speaker 6] (2:17:49 - 2:17:54)
So the 250 includes 200 related to school and 50 related to town.

[Speaker 5] (2:17:54 - 2:18:05)
Yes specifically for the Hadley That entire school gonna be electric, hmm, is that school electric? Yes, and will it be a hundred percent electric like solar?

[Speaker 2] (2:18:05 - 2:18:49)
Well, so solar is not so solar is not going to be installed at this point. But because of frankly pretty amazing work of the school building committee art our our owners rep and our and and Max Casper We've been able to identify and and frankly from a little former renewable energy slash select board Renewable energy ferry named Neil Duffy. We've identified the town has identified Some additional reimbursements from National Grid and other programs which are going to allow us actually to expedite The investment in solar more so than food, but that being said it's all electric day one It's the solar that will come online, but the building is being made as best it can solar ready to facilitate that

[Speaker 4] (2:18:50 - 2:19:07)
Any any quick question for you, so, you know in our discussions with tri chair We had talked about transportation funds. Those aren't you know, there's no transportation stabilization fund.

Is that just being Within the within the school school budget

[Speaker 3] (2:19:07 - 2:19:20)
as of right now, yes, and Obviously the town administrator and myself will continue to have conversations with the superintendent and the assistant superintendent Thank you

[Speaker 10] (2:19:24 - 2:20:00)
Yep The debt service budget for FY 25 is just over seven point five million dollars That's a approximately four hundred and thirty five thousand dollar increase over last year or approximately six percent this is largely driven by Short term debt that we've taken on to finance the remaining portion of the new school To see that product cash flow that project to completion And that's in anticipation of additional MSBA grant monies that are to be received over the next year as they do their audit process So that's that's the big country contributor to this increase

[Speaker 3] (2:20:10 - 2:20:51)
And For the first time in my tenure we have a Decrease to the employee benefits line Because the census on our health insurance is down significantly The actual rates won't be released until prior to open enrollment in April So our estimate is based off of the average increase per plan for the last three years Which is in line with the GIC's Proposals of what they believe the increases are going to be and what is that?

They believe the increase is going to be somewhere between eight and ten percent

[Speaker 16] (2:20:53 - 2:21:14)
But it's a weighted average is not a strict average this can change dramatically so this is one of those lines were just You know it we do have a contingency in this line It's very difficult to present a budget at this point not having this number We get we get that bill in April right we get the rates in April rate before open enrollment

[Speaker 3] (2:21:15 - 2:22:10)
And then when is open enrollment finish open enrollment is April 3rd through May 6 I believe But either way it's early April through early May And we will be able to see all the plan changes that people Put through at that time so by May 15th. You know what that bill is gonna be before we get to town meeting we know What the enrollment is at that point?

So the reason it's a decrease Is because even though rates are increasing enrollment is down yes So every year we do our original production based off the January 1st enrollment We have double-checked the February and March Enrollment and we have not seen in that time So up this number how much is the health insurance? The Total health insurance yeah

[Speaker 2] (2:22:14 - 2:22:48)
I'm just let me do it doesn't your the area answer is not going to change my follow-up My follow-up is as the state ever like even contact I know GIC was a version of I guess not self-insured, but the state ever really talked about self-insurance like in communities and working I mean like I'm just saying it just it's it's it's GIC is has changed from what it originally was and and the benefits it was going to be and get it He's buying to market, but GIC is changing so I mean are there are there percolating conversations at the state level about alternative

[Speaker 1] (2:22:49 - 2:24:02)
Systems I have not heard any so I haven't I have reached out to Blue Cross and Blue Shield I've had a few had recently in the last Four months had a conversation with reps from Blue Cross and Blue Shield We're in the GIC for the next two years it would make sense this summer to actually sit down with a number of different providers and see if there's a Few programs that actually would provide more benefits for our employees I had a reduced cost I I do think you know the menu that we have is expensive and When I look at the choices that we have You know, it's it's very expensive it's interesting that how many employees are on different plans We have a lot of expensive plans in the GIC. So worth Having a group kind of focus on that.

I've sat with Mary Ellen. I've sat with Doug. I've actually had a few You know detailed conversations.

This is something that I'd have to work with public employee group Certainly Mary Ellen has you know been very focused on this and and I would look to Mary Ellen and Doug to help us

[Speaker 5] (2:24:03 - 2:24:09)
Thank you, but in order to if we were to make any changes we have to notify them by the beginning of December

[Speaker 3] (2:24:11 - 2:25:35)
No, so we would have to notify them before our agreement is up So for the GIC, so we're under contract for two more years So we are under with them for FY 25 and FY 26 Next slide. So this is the other half of the state aid. So this is our assessments We've seen an average increase of almost 34% of our state aid assessments in the last five years But we do have a little bit of good news based off the governor's proposal where it looks like we're gonna see a decrease in our charter school sending tuition this year Other than that, we don't see significant changes in the rest of our state aid assessments This is just another overview of our reserve position so the general stabilization with the proposed General fund operating budget is at eight point eight six percent, which is just below the nine percent Low end of funding recommendation the capital stabilization is at one point nine seven percent so under the two percent and Free cash is currently at three point seven two percent, which is within the three and five percent range And I'll turn it back to the town administrator

[Speaker 1] (2:25:36 - 2:31:07)
So I think it's important to just highlight that you know right now we've successfully negotiated Contract with all five of the town's collective bargaining contracts You know, our our contracts are settled. We're in negotiations You know with a number of unions right now just because it takes about a year to actually negotiate some of these agreements, so really grateful You know that we've been able to move forward with the new elementary school. This school as we've discussed is will be a hallmark Generations, it will literally be one of the best schools in the Commonwealth For every child in this town and it's taken an immense amount of work It's over a hundred million dollars and it's gonna be absolutely amazing This past year.

We've you know had some great efforts to kind of look at the Hawthorne restaurant property we had a great turnout for listening session and a Opportunity to get some ideas We have a bold vision For this iconic property that I hope we get to over the next few weeks to really give people something to be excited about You know, we have been able to successfully work and get additional state funding for Kings Beach we are rolling up our sleeves and really looking at every option and we're trying to work with our state and federal partners on on how we can move forward and Get that beach back to a position that we can all feel great about you know, I do believe that we have a lot of Exciting opportunities to really identify revenue.

We're gonna be talking at this special town meeting about opportunities for additional Significant revenue for the town. It's not all about cutting budgets. Some of it is about identifying ways that we can generate More economic development this sense that somehow, you know, we have people talking about a hotel for the first time and Generations where this town was once the hotel capital of New England like to me.

That is absolutely Exciting it's going to help support the funding that we need in so many of these critical areas Most importantly, I think you know, we're starting to really bring that conversation around Affordable and inclusionary housing Conversations around veterans housing are so important finding strategies that help ensure that this town has Options for folks to live in this community With different housing options that are are affordable and inclusive are gonna be so critical next slide That said, you know, we still see, you know increasing operational costs. We're seeing them midstream. We're seeing Increases in inflation, you know, these budgets are are not contracts.

They're our best Estimates and so, you know, we have to be mindful that you know the benefits for our active and Retirees continue to be a huge cost burden You know this generation is paying so much more for the retiree Benefits that prior generations never paid paying so much more for infrastructure that prior generations never invested in and it's just It's it's costly and it really does put pressure on all those other quality of life investments that people deserve but yet we're just Stuck paying the tab for prior generations that said we do have some of the healthiest stabilization funds And I am recommending as we've discussed that we we use our financial reserves strategically this year and help build that discipline and that flexibility for our Operating budgets we we have just this year, you know receive that triple-a status We want to maintain that it's going to be more and more important as we kind of look at our additional capital plan Strong record of stable and balanced budgets. We have been recognized for excellent fiscal management forward-looking financial plans We do work as a team with all of our boards and committees.

Yes, we have Conflict and yes, we have difficult conversations But that really is the essence of finding a path forward that works for more Folks We are planning the work and we're working the plan Over the next few weeks just next slide we have months of work with finance committees and school committees and town meeting We're gonna work with our federal and state delegation. We're gonna continue to Look at this budget continue to make changes and make sure that You know, we're Meeting some of these needs as we address the challenges for Swanscot As we kind of look at you know the budget here's kind of a timeline for You know the next few months next like

[Speaker 2] (2:31:10 - 2:31:19)
Apparently not Wow, it's oh Just keep going tell us how it ends tell us how the movie ends

[Speaker 3] (2:31:19 - 2:31:24)
It ends on May 20th that annual town meeting right here at the high school.

[Speaker 2] (2:31:24 - 2:31:24)
We're good

[Speaker 3] (2:31:25 - 2:31:26)
Be there every square

[Speaker 1] (2:31:26 - 2:31:48)
so this budget runs from You know March down to May 20th, you know, we have a deadline For closing the warrants and opening the warrants, but this is where you know, we We support, you know, one of our top policy responsibilities as a community

[Speaker 5] (2:31:52 - 2:32:05)
I noticed in the book like we don't have a detailed revenue like excise and everything like that where we've had in the past Did I miss it

[Speaker 1] (2:32:10 - 2:32:12)
It's a detailed budget

[Speaker 5] (2:32:15 - 2:32:20)
Again I've got revenue overview, but I don't have it, but you know how you have the detail

[Speaker 17] (2:32:22 - 2:32:23)
We have the

[Speaker 2] (2:32:25 - 2:32:25)
Yeah

[Speaker 17] (2:32:29 - 2:32:30)
You know

[Speaker 5] (2:32:36 - 2:32:39)
So, can we get a detail at some point, yeah

[Speaker 6] (2:32:50 - 2:32:57)
I Have an adjacent question to the budget When is our next discussion on our fun

[Speaker 1] (2:33:00 - 2:33:21)
You know, that's a Discussion that I think we can tee up over the next few weeks you know, I envision that you know, we would get into a few discussions once we Wrapped up one of the negotiations that we're currently working on I

[Speaker 6] (2:33:22 - 2:33:53)
Think Seems a little obvious The reason I'm asking is because maybe some of the things that we feel like might be missing from the budget We're hoping to delineate through other funding mechanisms So it doesn't really make sense to me to think about them separately really make sense to think about them together So that we are not Sort of hoping one is happening and not the other and you know, we're actually Putting things into a plan in fruition so that something doesn't get missed

[Speaker 2] (2:33:57 - 2:37:13)
Sure, can I ask a question? I know Another budget adjacent question was just capital and I know that we'll have a capital discussion at future things But I do think it's really important I Think there's been a lot of great focus on the capital plan and and discussion of it But I think what is and I I think there just needs to be a bit of a resetting. Yep And and I don't know what the answer is But I know I don't think I believe that what's happening right now is just need some help the Everybody has roles and responsibilities here.

But I and I think My hope is the capital plan Is once again driven by the administration like truly driven by the administration based on All the department heads expertise and what they think needs to be programmed in the capital plan Obviously there are unforeseen things there's things that we never thought about pickleball wasn't a sport ten years ago You know, etc, etc, etc And so things come up done. So my points not about changes that but I do feel as though what's happening is Listening in to the CIC in particular Which again the CIC is a committee that reports to town meeting actually reports to the Finance Committee Who then reports the town meeting under our charter and really what they're doing is a review of the capital record the capital plan the capital recommendations and Just just like Finance Committee does on Everything finance the town meeting is is is is a check for town meeting, right? it's a it's a way for town meeting members to know that there is a Check and balance just to make their share of that prudent decisions are being made however, it seems like the CIC is making a lot more policy decisions actually about what should be on the capital plan and and and Espousing I think a bit more discretion Saying well, we just don't think this we think that and and I their opinions are important and they're valuable but I think what it's doing is it's it's confounding the discussion a little bit because we all lose sight when the capital plan gets materialized as to Why everything is where it is or not where it is in the case may be and so I just if we can just figure out You know improve that process just because I feel like it's going Seems like it's getting a little bit sideways and I and again all good intentions, but I feel as though we're losing The true intent of the plan and and CIC is not as much a policy as opposed to a capital planning committee And and so I just want to make sure that the policy part of capital planning The as we're doing for example initiatives for resiliency as we're doing things for sewer and water infrastructure things of that nature because a member or three of capital don't think that's important that doesn't necessarily trump the recommendation of Staff and trump the recommendation of the select board and finance committee as well. So they're just there's a balance I just want to make sure that we know what you guys are recommending.

We don't unless we're at CIC We don't see very much of that And so we want knowing what you recommend and why you recommend it and then see the process that may result in changes at least Lets us know where the professionals have asked and we have baselines

[Speaker 1] (2:37:13 - 2:39:10)
Peter one of the things that frankly we need to do is have a report every year, you know We're gonna get there where that annual recommendation looks a lot like a budget and we do that in August or Early September and that report just reflects the professional capital improvement 30-year plan for every facility every piece of infrastructure and so When the capital improvement committee and really it is a planning committee, but under this charter it actually is a fiduciary committee that's affiliated with the finance committee and and it it's easy to see how that committee might actually think its Responsibilities are really to make recommendations to town meeting or to carry the financial and to me. That's that's where operationally, it breaks down a little bit because What what a capital plan is is a plan.

It's not a budget. It's a plan that the capital improvement committee Helps us get right. And so we're supposed to make sure that we're on top of all of the planning for Capital needs for this town We never should have to worry that We're not going to be able to replace windows not going to be able to place roof roof last 20 to 30 years Windows last 20 to 30 years and so you should have a capital plan That's 30 years and so you have life cycles all these major systems fire trucks all the needs That we don't have to really worry that are gonna up upset the debt service plan or the you know capital plan of finance plan We we're getting there We've got work to do and I appreciate you know you Raising that I will work with the finance team and we'll continue to talk a little bit about how we we bake in that System so that we can we can have these careful sequenced conversations with the

[Speaker 2] (2:39:10 - 2:41:12)
Select board finance committee and I want to just I want to just close on the this point with just an example and Resiliency is the example we at current are blessed with so many different groups that are looking at resiliency concerns and sustainability concerns and developing recommendations developing priorities and In fairness to these groups these groups don't really know are they competing against other ideas Is it an or we do a or B or is it we can do a and B?

And if we're doing a and B How do we do a and B and so what happens is these committees are having conversations without context in fairness? They wouldn't have the context right to understand that what? The left hand and the right hand are doing it can be collaborative.

It's not mutually exclusive sometimes it is but if it is mutually exclusive and let's make that clear and and to do that and And because I think the last thing we want is is volunteers in particular Feeling like they're left to arm wrestle or thumb wrestle over things that frankly I'm going to use the I'm going to use the pier I'm going to use a living roof as just an example, right? based on the funding mechanisms that we're hearing about it's likely an and if the town wants it to be an end if a town Decides they want a pier It can be an end if the town doesn't want it here It doesn't have to be an end but but to use an example as opposed to saying hey all this focus on a pier means We're not going to be able to do the other things and it's treated like an or and so therefore There's advocacy for and against projects as opposed to to kind of the left and right hand working together So I think that if we if we figure that out And resiliency is a great one because there's so much energy right now Being focused on that which is awesome that I just don't want us to dilute that energy by the fact that we have Volunteers feeling like they've got to reconcile those differences when frankly we can sit there and say, you know, it's an and now It's gonna be a version of a and B.

It's not gonna be everything We're not gonna be able to do the Cadillac, but it's a if that's the situation So if we can just figure out how to interject that I think that's just gonna make the volunteers feel better themselves Because I don't think they really want to be Some wrestling each other. They just want to see progress They want to hear have their voices heard and contribute their skills

[Speaker 1] (2:41:12 - 2:41:42)
The more we can do ends the better and I appreciate the analogy analogy about you know There may be different versions of of each of these projects that are more financially You know supported through our debt service, you know, ultimately our treasurer's is He's gonna be able to make sure that we have the bandwidth in our debt service to support all these important ideas Thanks

[Speaker 2] (2:41:44 - 2:41:45)
Thank you for your hard work

[Speaker 1] (2:41:47 - 2:41:57)
Thank You Amy, thank you Patrick. Thank you department heads There's not a department head that actually probably has a budget that they want but they've done their best to try to make it work

[Speaker 2] (2:42:03 - 2:42:33)
Okay, don't tell us which one it is But I was just gonna make a suggestion I mean how much time do you want to spend on this or should we just be we're gonna meet before town meeting anyways Yeah, let's whether we want to I'm just throwing that up there. It's 1015 Do we want to just on the town meeting? We can make our recommendations before town meeting We're gonna have a meeting anyways make our recommendations and we'll just let the town moderator know so we can put it on the board Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, I mean again people want to talk about tonight.

[Speaker 4] (2:42:33 - 2:43:05)
I'm all for it, but I am here. Is that is that in this room? Do you want 29?

Yep All right, we can move on thank you Consent agenda consent agenda is designed to expedite the handling of routine miscellaneous business to the board select board may adopt an entire consent agenda with one motion and that the request of any board member Any item may be removed from the consent agenda and placed on the regular agenda for discussion

[Speaker 15] (2:43:06 - 2:43:11)
And can we delay the

[Speaker 4] (2:43:15 - 2:43:19)
Okay, sure thing select board time

[Speaker 6] (2:43:24 - 2:47:52)
So It's becoming increasingly difficult to sit on the board and really truly try To Keep The philosophical values that I am trying to keep I Have Really tried I'm taking my time because I'm gonna be very careful with my words I Try to sit here and listen There's a quote from the role of st. Benedict that says listen with the ear of your heart I am sitting on this board because I feel like There is something the community saw in me and I can offer to this community and It breaks my heart when that individual says he missed his one-year-olds bedtime But I just want to be clear that it's not a disrespect to him personally that we were late for this meeting we were doing other town business and I just I I've advocated on this board countless amounts of time for grace People to have grace for one another when we make missteps when we make mistakes People to have grace for themselves when they make mistakes and admit that they made a mistake to own their mistakes forgiveness is something I advocate for and Admitting a mistake is Not a negative owning it and saying we could do better We we have in this meeting said that Doesn't feel that way at this meeting that we've done that and I Will continue to push myself my colleagues who Listen with the ears of our heart Have grace for one another have grace or the community request grace in return to constantly be open and willing to Be volunteers in these positions to make difficult decisions None of these decisions are easy if they were easy.

We would be making them readily in Open for everybody to see at all times Some of these decisions are extremely complex and They require executive sessions and they require conversations Because they involve personnel or they involve details for which we are not at liberty to discuss and I Will continue to sit here in grace and I ask that if you're still listening at this ungodly hour That you continue to grant it to us when you are able That doesn't mean don't push us that doesn't mean don't say what you need to say I I'm not trying to silence anybody's position, but I am asking That we do really truly try to understand what it means to be Professional respectful and loving to each other in this room on zoom and when we speak to one another it is not an Easy task, but we are all up to it and I just really implore us all to continue to strive for that level of Respect for one another and respect for ourselves because as Miss Leonard said before my kids are watching they watch every Wednesday night to say goodnight to mom and Every time I could sit at this table. I try to be the best version of myself.

They're watching That's the level we all should be having Both from our community members and ourselves So I implore that we try to live up to that. It's not easy and every day we can't but let us try The second comment I'd like to make is with regards to the liquor licenses I Had made a promise that I would do the best I could to get the liquor license on this agenda as you can see the License were not discussed on this agenda I implore the chair to please put the liquor licenses on the next agenda so we can discuss and vote on the liquor licenses

[Speaker 4] (2:47:56 - 2:47:57)
Thanks Katie

[Speaker 5] (2:47:59 - 2:48:28)
So I to request that the liquor license be on the agenda At the next meeting. I'd like to say thank you to Sam down David Murkowski and Ethan run stether And I would like to ask everyone to please come out to officer Lucas's funeral tomorrow He was a wonderful wonderful man

[Speaker 4] (2:48:31 - 2:49:00)
Peter I just I just have one quick announcement Join join the library Swampscott library for their second annual comedy night Friday April 5th doors open at 615 details are all over Facebook But you can get your tickets on event, right? So hope everybody comes out and supports the Swampscott public library That'll entertain a motion to adjourn.

[Speaker 5] (2:49:00 - 2:49:02)
So me. Okay all in favor.

[Speaker 4] (2:49:02 - 2:49:30)
All right. All right. Thanks everybody.

Have a good night You