[Speaker 34] (19:18 - 19:29)
Good evening. Good evening.

[Speaker 1] (19:30 - 24:38)
Those members who have checked in, if you could make your way into the hall. I've been informed that we have a quorum present. If you could please take your seats.

We have a few prefatory announcements and we'll begin the full session. Thank you. Please keep making your way into the hall.

Please find a seat as soon as you can. We do have a full agenda this evening. Please find a seat.

If you could please take a seat. I know how anxious we are to spend a long evening tonight discussing. The better to start the sooner.

I'd like to start this evening with a brief announcement. It's great to see so many faces. I hope you can find a seat quickly.

If you're in the room, please find a seat. If you're not in the room yet, please make your way down front. Please do your best to find a seat and we will begin.

Thank you. The first announcement this evening. The first announcement this evening, I'd like to recognize Janelle Cameron.

Ms. Cameron, I see you just entered the room.

[Speaker 11] (24:58 - 27:17)
Thank you, Mr. Moderator. Janelle Cameron, Town Meeting Member, Precinct 3, Chair of Annual Fourth of July Parade, Farmers Market Committee Board, Secretary of Recreation Commission, Clerk of Swamp School Education Foundation, Hadley Reuse Committee, and former Elementary Secretary for 27 years. And I still really miss it.

Okay, let's start with the fun stuff. The parade is really early this year. It's always before the Fourth of July, but it's on Sunday, July 23rd.

We're going to go from the middle school again like we did last year because there was a lot more shade and it was easier when everyone's standing around to line up. So I sent an email out today. If you are not on that and you'd like to be in the parade, just let me know.

The more, the merrier. Farmers Market. Farmers Market opens on Sunday, June 9th.

We're still looking for volunteers. It can be, last year we had a great group and I talked to the mother of one of our students today who said they're in again for this year between National Honor Society and Junior National Honor Society and the Senior Workoff Program. We had a lot of volunteers, which is great.

You have to be able to lift some folding chairs and a folding table and plastic Adirondack chairs, but there is some light lifting, but we're looking for volunteers. Danielle, I don't know if we have recreation. Anything for recreation?

No? Okay. And then the last one is Swansgate Education Foundation.

This is the one that makes me a little sad. After 35 years, we are putting in the dissolution of the foundation. Ever since COVID, it just was too hard to get anything going.

We tried giving all those teachers the grant applications on a flash drive. We went to staff meetings after school with periwinkles to bribe, things like that, but just after COVID, it just was a little easier for them to go to a PTA and not have to do more paperwork than they're already doing so. After all the fines and attorney's fees and everything is done, we will turn the rest of the money over to the Swansgate Public Schools, but at this time, I don't know the figure for that.

Thank you for your time.

[Speaker 1] (27:18 - 27:32)
Thank you, Ms. Cameron. I'd like to recognize a group of people, Mr. Powell, Ms. Driscoll, Mr. Dorsey. I didn't see Mr. Masucci here yet. There he is.

[Speaker 20] (27:47 - 28:56)
Thank you, Mr. Moderator. I'm Ann Driscoll, town meeting member, Precinct 1. I've also worked most of my career as a journalist, and I've been hanging out with these guys a lot.

We first met December 9th, and we've been working really hard on an initiative that we're really excited about. But I'd first like to introduce the rest of this crew. We have Bob Powell, who many of you may know, has been very involved with Seaglass Village, Swamp Scot for all ages.

He also is an award-winning financial reporter. To my left is Tim Dorsey. Tim has distinguished himself as a member of the Finance Committee, including as an acting chair, and he's general counsel at Wood McKenzie.

And finally, we have Peter Masucci. Peter is an Emmy award-winning creative leader at WBZ-TV. And now I'm going to turn it over to Bob so he can make a big announcement.

[Speaker 10] (28:58 - 32:35)
Thank you, Ann. I could never compete with Janelle, but I'll try. Chair of the Council on Aging, co-chair of Swamp Scot for all ages, member of the Swamp Scot Retirement Board, member of the Swamp Scot 2035 Master Plan, and maybe a lifetime member of the ADH Club.

Slide one. So I'm excited to announce that we have established the Swamp Scot Tides, an independent nonprofit local news organization committed to informing and engaging the public. Yeah, and our goal is to provide Swamp Scot with fact-based coverage of community issues, culture, and events.

Our free online newspaper will be called the Swamp Scot Tides, in part because it is the only news outlet exclusively focused on Swamp Scot, and in part because as a seaside community, we are well aware of the changing tides that shift daily. The word tide is rooted in the word time, and we hope to be the local chronicler of our times, the comings and goings of our town. There is a movement not only in Massachusetts, but across the country, bringing rebirth to local news organizations, and we are now following more than 400 other communities in this country that have established nonprofit news sites to help inform and engage local residents, following in the footsteps of such places as the Marblehead Current in Marblehead.

As we heard at the recent special town meeting, many across Swamp Scot have recognized the need for enhanced and improved civic engagement, and we believe that the Swamp Scot Tides will contribute mightily to that cause. Next slide, please. We are in the process of launching.

Our goal would be maybe to launch sometime in the fall, maybe for the annual Thanksgiving football game, maybe. But you can sign up for updates on our website at the moment, and we'll update you on our progress, and as soon as we start writing news articles, you'll get weekly updates on whatever's been published. We have made a lot of progress.

So Anne mentioned that she, I, and Tim first met back in December, but actually Tim and I met last July, and he was picking my brain about local newspapers, and I shared with him everything I knew, and oddly enough, that didn't discourage him. So right now, we've been spending much of this time since December visiting with leaders of other local newspapers like the Marblehead Current. We have formed a fundraising committee.

Some of those people are here in attendance tonight. We are actively starting our fundraising efforts, and we are naming and incorporating Swamp Scot Tides. We are incorporated.

Our bylaws have been formed, and we're getting a nonprofit status from the IRS hopefully within the next few months. We've created the website, as you see, and you've already been introduced to the group. So I mentioned that we'd like to hope to publish the first edition before the end of the year.

It depends on how fundraising goes and how well advertisers support us. At the moment, we think, at least if we use Marblehead Current as our gauge, they launched with $400,000, but they also have a print product. They think that we could launch with about $200,000 to create an online news site.

So that would fund editorial staff, advertising staff, production staff, et cetera, et cetera. So we would love your support in any form or fashion, be it subscribing to what we have here or asking to join the fundraising committee or maybe helping out on our editorial committee. We'll be forming a board of advisors.

So thank you for your time and attention. Oh, swampscotttides.org is where to go. So thank you.

[Speaker 1] (32:36 - 33:26)
Thank you, Mr. Powell. Thank you, Mr. Mizuchi. Thank you, Mr. Driscoll. Ms. Driscoll and Mr. Yes. Sorry about that. I have one more piece of informal business before we start.

I've been looking, but I don't see him here. But I would like to announce and recognize the efforts of our Assistant Town Administrator, Director of the DPW, Gino Cresta, who has successfully, I am informed, concluded the burial of Espresso the Whale. So that despite the many miles that the whale has traveled to return to us, may she rest in peace.

Thank you, Gino. So with that, I will ask the clerk to read the return on the warrant.

[Speaker 16] (33:30 - 34:03)
Notice is hereby given in accordance with Article 2, Section 2 of the General Bylaws of the Town of Swampscott, that the annual town meeting will be held on Monday, May 20, 2024, beginning at 7 o'clock in the Swampscott High School Auditorium, located at 200 Essex Street, Swampscott. The required identification badge is to be picked up at the auditorium entrance when you check in. Town Moderator, Michael McClung, will preside.

[Speaker 1] (34:03 - 34:22)
Thank you, Mr. Clerk. We do have Assistant Town Clerk, Mr. Bryson, sitting in for the Town Clerk, Mr. LaLiberté, who is under the weather. Now I would like to ask all of you who have been recently elected or reelected to rise and be sworn in.

[Speaker 16] (34:29 - 35:24)
All right. Will you all raise your right hand, please, and repeat after me. I, state your name, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as a Swampscott Town Meeting Member, according to the bylaws of the Town of Swampscott, the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and under the Constitution and laws of the United States of America, to the best of my ability.

Congratulations.

[Speaker 1] (35:25 - 45:14)
Thank you. Please remain standing. Everybody else who so feels the urge, please join me in pledging our allegiance to the flag of this country.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please be seated. I can now call to order this 173rd Annual Town Meeting of the Town of Swampscott.

97th is a representative town meeting. Please note that this meeting is being recorded and broadcast. So, welcome.

I'd like to see, out of all those who were just sworn in, can I have a show of hands of how many people this is their first town meeting ever? Thank you. You are joining a long, unbroken tradition of representative democracy on these shores that began well before the country began, when the first settlers from England came and decided to hold a town meeting before they set foot on these shores.

You are part of a long and storied history. As far as the procedure this evening, we will engage in debate on all of the articles in this warrant. We will get as far as we can tonight.

I have this room reserved Tuesday and Wednesday, if need be. But I am reminded that an illustrious former moderator was fond of saying, full and fair debate is not the same thing as endless debate. By our charter, each member is allowed to rise twice on any item and speak for up to ten minutes at a time.

Those of you who can do math very quickly will quickly learn that we will be here through the summer, if that is, in fact, the case for everybody. So I like to remind people of the quote variously attributed to Dr. Johnson, to Tacitus, among others, in which they conclude a letter saying, I'm sorry I wrote you such a long letter. I did not have time to write a short one.

Consider that, if you will. I also would urge you to understand this is a parliamentary procedure. This is not a courtroom.

We are not cross-examining fellow speakers. You rise. You make a point.

You may ask a question. I will find the best person to answer it for you, if one exists. You may also wish to amend a motion that is on the floor.

If you do wish to, I need that amendment in writing. We'll submit it to the clerk. We'll review it to make sure it's in order before we proceed with debate on the amendment.

As we talk about the length of debate and for those new members, there is a motion to end debate, variously called moving the previous question, calling the question that any member can make during the debate. It requires a vote of two-thirds to end debate and move directly to a vote on the motion on the floor. Finally, I ask you all to observe the high standards of decorum to which this body has held itself for now these 173 years.

I read with deep disappointment about the behavior at Marblehead's town meeting recently. I'm sure none of that will occur here, but I do urge you to remember we are all neighbors. We are all residents of the same town.

We all wish the best for the town, even if we disagree. I'm going to repeat the technical advice I've been given by our CRAC public access television staff. You will notice that you can hear me quite clearly right now because I am speaking not more than two inches from the microphone, whereas if I start to drift off, you do have a little bit of a problem hearing what I am saying.

If you decide to speak this evening, please make sure you're using this level of contact with the mic. If you need the height of the mic changed, you may change it or we will have one of the staff change it for you. But if you begin talking like this and they have to turn up your mic, that's when we start to get the feedback in the hall.

Finally, I talked about a two-thirds vote being required for ending debate. We have a number of different quantums of vote required. We have one article this evening that requires a four-fifths.

We have several two-thirds. We have several simple majorities. I will conduct the voting as follows.

I will call for a show of hands in favor, a show of hands against. If I can declare the vote, I will do so on the basis of that. That is the power of the moderate interstate law.

If I am in doubt, I may call for a standing vote, in which case I will ask the yeas to rise. I will appoint tellers to count, confer, and agree on the totals, report the totals to the clerk. Then I'll ask the nays to rise.

The tellers will do the same. We'll compare totals. We'll come up with the result of the vote.

I will announce it. If, for whatever reason, the body disagrees with my declaration of a vote under a show of hands, the body may also force a standing vote if seven members rise immediately and call for a standing vote. The next level of precision is a roll call vote.

A roll call vote may be forced if 30 members rise immediately and request a roll call vote. There's also a little, if not practically unheard of, provision for a secret ballot, which would require two-thirds of this body to request a secret ballot vote. In my thinking, it is somewhat inimical to the idea of a representative town meeting to require a secret ballot.

I can understand it perhaps in an open town meeting, but it would seem to fly in the face of you being elected members representing your fellow citizens. With that, I do have one sad bit of news. I just want to share a list of the folks that we've lost who've been either town employees or public servants this past year.

This is based on the best of my records. If I have omitted somebody inadvertently, I both ask your forgiveness and express my condolence. I would like to take a second for this body just to note John Doherty, longtime town meeting member, elected 1979.

Same year as a young Swanscot High School senior who would later go on to moderate this session tonight. I found Mr. Doherty to be a wealth of institutional knowledge, and I always felt I was on solid ground if I'd had a question and run it by him to understand what had been done in the past. So with that, if I could ask you for a moment of silence.

Thank you very much. I do have another unofficial act that's a little bit of the prerogative of the chair. I would like to recognize some folks in town.

It's with pleasure that I get to announce outstanding contributions of individuals every year. This year, I'd like to recognize the folks who have been engaged in the Forget Me Not, age and dementia friendly initiative among the restaurants in town. We have three restaurants who are piloting the project.

I know I have at least one of the individuals present tonight, Ann Staridi, and I hope you will give a huge round of applause for the hard work they've done, speaking as someone who's lost a parent to Alzheimer's. Anything that we can do to keep people engaged in their community life is a positive. If we also had a representative from Cafe Avellino or Mission on the Bay, I have plaques for them, but Ms. Staridi, if you're here. Teresa Sirignano from Cafe Avellino. Say again? And if we'd like to hear more about the program, I do have Heidi Weir, who might be able to give us more details, but in essence it is training staff and making restaurants more accommodating to individuals who would find the setting of a public dining experience upsetting.

[Speaker 29] (45:20 - 45:47)
Michael, I didn't get this to you earlier, but we have flyers that we handed out to most of you as you walked in the room. We are very excited about this, and this is not just for restaurants, but it will be for all businesses and organizations in the town of Squamish Scott. And we'll be doing some training, and we're hoping that you'll engage in making sure that Squamish Scott is available and friendly to all of our residents, regardless of their age and their ability.

Thank you.

[Speaker 34] (45:48 - 45:49)
Thank you, Ms. Weir.

[Speaker 1] (45:52 - 46:52)
With that, I would like to take up Article I, Reports of Committees. I have three reports tonight that we will hear. We can start with the School Building Committee, if Ms. Wright is available. Hello. That's good mic technique.

[Speaker 6] (46:53 - 49:28)
Sorry, I have to be the first guinea pig of the night. All right, I'm Suzanne Wright, School Building Committee Chair, and I'm so happy to stand in front of you tonight and let you know that the new Squamish Scott Elementary School project is on time, on budget, and on track to achieve LEED Gold certification. So it's awesome.

In three months, we are going to start educating students in a state-of-the-art, all-electric building with an abundance of natural daylight, geothermal energy, and solar power. Getting to this point has been a Herculean task. And I want to give a credit.

Hold on, I can't. Can I scroll up? Sorry.

All right, never mind. I'm going to do it here. So this has been an unbelievable project.

It's fast, and there's a lot going on. And like when I say Herculean task, it's no joke. And I just want to give a well-deserved shout-out to our Joint Director of Facilities, Max Casper, over in the corner.

He is the MVP of this project. He's been consistently, diligently, and expertly looking out for our town's best interest. And he knows every single square inch of this 153,000-square-foot building.

And we would not be where we are at this level of construction in this great building without Max. So thanks, Max. I owe you internal appreciation.

So our teachers have walked through this building throughout the month of April. And I can't wait for you to be able to walk through this building as well. We will have an open house at some point, but you guys are just invited to come celebrate with us because this building is amazing.

So on Thursday, I went to the site. I tried to take some video. Hold on.

How do I start? No, it's not doing it. There's no mouse.

Oh, sorry. All right.

[Speaker 1] (49:28 - 49:28)
Sorry.

[Speaker 6] (49:29 - 49:35)
Yeah. Okay. Sorry.

Yes. Yes.

[Speaker 26] (49:48 - 49:49)
Can you push play?

[Speaker 6] (49:59 - 52:03)
I'm going to just do now. Try it. Okay.

Oh. Oh, my God. I can't believe I can't show you this.

Anyway, this is the front of the building. To the left of the building, you can see some green. That's the canopy for the upper school.

And third and fourth grade are above it. And the administration is also over there for the upper school. The middle, as you approach through Whitman Road, you see the middle of the building.

That's a two-story window is our two-story media lab library. And to the right of that is the lower school administration and the lower school interests. Above the media center is an innovation classroom.

There's a large glass garage door window that opens up. And students will have access to indoor and outdoor learning up there on the patio for all sorts of STEM activities. And above that, the white that you see is the gym.

The gym is on the third floor and raises up almost two stories. And there's all windows on the northern and southern exposure. So there's an incredible amount of daylighting in that space.

And I also, believe it or not, wanted to point out the roof, too. Back when we were designing the school, we thought we'd be putting solar panels on the roof. And that didn't happen.

We had to value engineer that out. But we've had such good response with National Grid and getting rebates and incentives and money from the Inflation Reduction Act that we're actually going to have a separate project occurring this summer to put solar panels on this roof. So we're really excited about that.

And the money is also allowing us to set up the infrastructure that goes out to the parking lot. So eventually we can have solar canopies in the parking lot as well. So between these two solar projects, we're going to get pretty close to net zero with this building.

And again, it's all electric, so we're not using any fossil fuels in here, which is really exciting.

[Speaker 11] (52:04 - 52:14)
I can't do this.

[Speaker 6] (52:16 - 52:36)
All right, sorry, you guys. All right, so again, this is the third and fourth grade entrance, the green. Oh, it didn't work.

You guys, I worked so hard on this at home.

[Speaker 1] (52:39 - 52:45)
I will publish out the final video for town meeting members.

[Speaker 6] (52:57 - 58:40)
Okay, this is exciting. So this is the third and fourth grade canopy. You enter the school into a vestibule, and then you walk towards this hallway.

Every single floor has a hallway basically like this that connects the lower school and the upper school. In this hallway, the left side where the paneling is, is all the administrative offices and nurse's office, and the media center starts there. And on the right side is the cafetorium.

Went too far. This is the cafe. And when you go in here, the first thing you notice is this awesome daylighting.

Those six gigantic windows bring in so much light, and when you're sitting there, it really looks like you're in a tree house looking out to the Ewing woods. The round circular fixture in the middle is providing definition for the space, and it's also providing a little quieter eating area in the middle there. Also, the kitchen is all electric, and our elementary students for the very first time are going to have hot lunch.

There's also this great stage in the cafetorium, so kids will be able to also sit on the stage if they want a little bit of sort of a smaller environment to eat in. Okay, so there's two stairwells that look like this in the school, one from the lower school and one from the upper school. This stairwell goes up to the second floor, but as you look straight up to the ceiling, you can see this giant skylight.

This skylight brings light and floods light into the first floor in such a beautiful way. There's a couple other openings in the middle of the building that also bring light all the way from the sky down to the first floor. This yellow denotes that this is a lower school classroom.

These entranceways are at the top of every stairway, and they lead to a wing that hosts one grade only. When you get into the grade-level wings, you see this flex space. Each grade-level wing has two sort of giant rooms that are surrounded by four classrooms, and this room is for group learning or sending your kids out in the hall for a project or any time of smaller, large groups to use.

The flex space has a teacher prep area that you can see on the left slide with the cubbies and the storage. It'll have a printer and a copier over there, and then on this one you can see on the left side of the right picture the classroom. There's a couple small classrooms in there for pull-outs and special ed or small group learning, and also there's windows in between the classroom and the flex space, and that's in order to draw the light from the classrooms into the flex spaces.

They're really quite beautiful, and the teachers are actually going to be able to see the kids that are out there doing work when they're also teaching in the classrooms. This is what a typical classroom looks like. Every single classroom has a sink, has a water fountain, and the teachers have asked for cubbies to be inside the classroom, so they all have storage cubbies in there.

Every classroom has a learning wall with a Promethean smart board. They have audio amplification systems built into the rooms, and as you can see on this right side, they all have these beautiful window seats, and then above the window seats is a light shelf, and the light shelf is designed to have the light that's coming in up there bounce off and deeper into the room, so more daylighting. I took this picture because this is one of my favorite rooms.

This is one of the art rooms. It's an unbelievable space. It has so much light and so much storage.

There's a kiln room attached to this. It's just a great space. There's two of them.

This is the innovation room I was talking about that had the large garage door that could open up onto that patio that's outside of it, and this is the hallway running between the innovation space on the right and the gym on your left. Like I said, every floor has a hallway like this that runs between the lower school and upper school, and it's basically all the community space in the building. This is in the middle of the building.

You'll find the cafeteria, the gym, the media center, the innovation space, spaces we're imagining the public using as well. This is the gym. It's pretty awesome.

It has all this natural light. There's no lights on in there right now, and this was taken late in the afternoon. It has great natural light.

It has two different curtains that drop down so it can make three different gyms, and on one of the walls there's an interactive sort of electronic playground that's really helpful for adaptive PE. I'm just going to end on this slide because this got painted on the floor on Saturday, Home with the Big Blue. This school is coming along really fast, and I am really excited for you guys to see this.

I'm sorry the drone didn't work.

[Speaker 34] (58:41 - 58:42)
Thank you, Suzanne.

[Speaker 1] (58:42 - 58:56)
That's right. As I mentioned, I will circulate a link to that video, and we'll make sure to post that online as well. I believe we have a report from the planning board.

Ms. Ippolito?

[Speaker 8] (59:06 - 1:04:22)
Well, Suzanne, that's going to be a hard act to follow, but I don't have anything quite as exciting. Good evening, everyone. Angela Ippolito, town meeting member, Precinct 5, and I'm also a member of the planning board.

I'm here tonight to give you an update on the master plan. Our current plan was started back in, I guess it was 2013 or 2014, and we approved it in 2015. It's a 10-year plan, 2015 to 2025, and as you can tell by the cover of the plan, which you're looking at, we are due for an update, and we are beginning the update this year, presently, actually.

Many of you were involved with the original process and probably participated in the public forums, but for many of the residents who weren't here 10 years ago or who aren't familiar, I'm just going to give a brief summary. A master plan is a comprehensive plan that's developed under the guidance of volunteer resident committee, representatives from various town committees and boards, and town staff. The entire project is coordinated through the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, the MAPC.

The master plan essentially is a town-based vision for its future. The distinct sections of the plan, in case you can't read that, I'll read them to you. The town-based vision for its future and the distinct sections are historic and cultural preservation, open space, it's actually historical and cultural resources, open space, hazard mitigation, energy, public facilities and services, land use and zoning, housing, economic development, and transportation and circulation.

In each of these sections, the plan lays out goals, strategies, and actions to improve livability, to create opportunities for growth, and to promote preservation and sustainability. It's a land use plan to help guide the physical development, and we use it as a guide to create predictability for residents, for businesses, for developers, and for elected officials. Each of these sections has its own implementation plan with actions to be taken, whether it's immediate, short-term, mid-term, long-term.

I remember when we finished the first plan and looking at our implementation schedule for what was supposed to be 2015 to 2025, thinking, how can this, I mean, first of all, what's 2025? That seems like a lifetime from now, but here we are. Amazingly, we have accomplished an incredible percentage of our plan, and I'm very proud of the town, the various committees, and all the people and all the volunteers that have worked so hard on this.

The accomplishments are too numerous to discuss here, but will be evident as they form the basis for the update that's about to begin for Master Plan 2035. It's our new logo. Again, MAPC will guide us as we develop our Master Plan 2035 update.

We will revisit our goals and our community vision, and we'll make sure that we reflect changes in existing conditions and public sentiment. In addition to the representatives from town boards and committees and town staff of the Master Plan 2035 committee includes 12 resident volunteers, each of whom are individuals who did not serve on the Master Plan committee, the original one in 2015, and we also tried to make sure that we got representatives from every precinct in town. I wanted to say thank you to all of the people who responded to our request for volunteers because we had many, many more than 12 requests, and it was really difficult to be able to cut the list down, which was a requirement from MAPC since our committee would have been a little too huge.

As it is, it will be about 21 people. So I wanted to thank everyone and let you know that we're going to be having monthly meetings, probably starting next month. There will also be several public forums, and we really hope to engage the public and elicit as much response and input from our community as possible.

And thank you very much. You can check out the website to keep up with dates and schedules. We don't have the exact schedule of meetings nailed down yet, but as soon as we do, that's where you're going to be able to find it, and we hope to see you at some of these sessions.

Thanks very much.

[Speaker 34] (1:04:23 - 1:04:24)
Thank you, Ms. Zipolito.

[Speaker 1] (1:04:28 - 1:04:31)
And then finally, a report from the schools. Ms. Angelakis.

[Speaker 5] (1:04:45 - 1:13:35)
Thank you, Mr. Moderator. Good evening, everyone. There's been a lot of noise around the school department budget the last couple of weeks, so I wanted to begin tonight by giving you my words.

One of my greatest strengths lies in my ability to acknowledge my mistakes. A week and a half ago, I spoke about the town meeting and its role in the budget modifications during a school committee meeting. Regrettably, I allowed myself to be swayed by my emotions and failed to maintain the appropriate focus.

In hindsight, this was a misstep, and for that, I extend my sincere apologies to every town meeting member, the town administration, and the dedicated leaders of the boards and committees who have worked tirelessly alongside the school department to work on our budget for FY25. While I firmly believe that our town's financial policy warrants reconsideration, I understand that such discussions will not be resolved on the floor of the town meeting. I do not think the current model of 2% plus new growth is sustainable for any department in the long term without consideration given for potential reset years or years with exceptions made for any number of reasons.

I feel that the town administrator and other town boards recognized our struggle this year to remain within those confines and understand better now than ever some of our difficulties. I again appreciate the town administrator, select board, and finance committee for fully funding the school committee's recommended budget. I recognize that solutions are never simple, and I feel that we've worked together collaboratively to develop a workable solution for all.

My team and I approached the FY25 budget with the same meticulousness that has defined our approach over the past decade. We painstakingly examined every aspect starting from the ground up in a never-ending effort to strike a balance between addressing the district's critical needs and recognizing similar challenges faced by our counterparts and other town departments. There's been a surge of criticism and speculation.

I am deeply disappointed by the accusations leveled against us by individuals who may have experience in various school departments but lack experience in leadership roles within those school districts. Claims of secrecy, incompetence in budget management, and allegations of prioritizing teacher cuts within our district are baseless and reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of our processes and priorities. This year, more than ever, we have been even more transparent about our known budget pressures, starting those conversations with the town in the fall to find a workable solution.

We presented our budget multiple times publicly and changed the entire format to provide more transparency and understanding. The appendix of our budget lists every single detailed account line that makes up our budget, so anyone can see to the most granular level where we spend our money. Last-minute suggestions about where to make adjustments to mitigate reduction in force notices merely to appease the public highlight the lack of insight into our operational realities.

And I do want to add here, there was one teacher that received a RIF letter in our reductions this year. I've always maintained that our goal with reductions is to avoid impacting students as much as possible. Our needs and programs change yearly, as do enrollment and student requirements.

Therefore, when students' needs or class sizes no longer support our staffing, it is my duty to transition staff or, in some cases, reduce staff if the needs have changed. We operate in a highly fluid environment where the staff we anticipate needing today could change tomorrow. This is why we hold off making reductions until the last possible moment, as students' needs, retirements, and resignations all impact the number of reduction letters we must send.

We try to avoid creating unnecessary panic among our staff by not reporting this information until we absolutely have to. If you look back to 2020 and our staffing, we have reduced in all areas except for the teaching ranks. This is the one area that has actually grown, albeit modestly.

When we returned to in-person schooling following the pandemic virtual and hybrid years, remember we had federal grants to support our students and programs. ESSERS I, II, and III provided our district with over $2 million, allowing us to increase staffing to meet our returning students and program needs. In FY21, our teacher count was 216.

With the influx of ESSER funds, we increased to 229 teacher positions in FY23. We recognized at that time that many of these positions would be temporary as we provided interventions to help our students return to the new normal. With the current budget approved by the school committee, we will maintain 218 teaching positions, adding two more than we had pre-pandemic.

Conversely, since FY21, we have reduced positions not directly student-facing by six FTEs, or 8.4%. At the May 9th school committee meeting, I heard loud and clear the concerns regarding the reduction of the social studies teacher at the high school. As a result, I spent a lot of time thinking about creative ways to address this within our budget guidance. I have saved the social studies teacher at the high school by cutting eight administrator stipended positions at the high school and middle schools.

This reduction in administrative positions brings back a teaching position and addresses the concerns of large class sizes at the high school. With each position, now teaching one additional class. This also addresses the concerns about AP history and elective courses, which will be included in next year's schedule.

With these reductions, these administrative responsibilities will now fall to existing administrators in the district. It's important to note that the FY25 budget includes some additions, none of which are administrative. We've reinstated that social studies teacher at the high school.

We've increased one of the elementary library positions. We've maintained a science teacher position that was added last year. We added a math interventionist that was ESSER funded and rolled into our operating budget because of the needs of the district.

We added the kindergarten aides back into our budget, which were also ESSER funded, but we rolled into our operating budget. In closing, many wonderful things are happening in the district. The main event is the opening of that amazing Swanscot Elementary School and it's thanks to this governing body.

We continue to grow our career and technical pathway programs at SHS. It's evident in our enrollment at Essex North Shore, one of the lowest we've ever seen. Our students are receiving college acceptances to prestigious universities such as Northwestern, Stanford, Cornell, Suffolk, Michigan, and Chapel Hill.

After several flat years, we see an increase in student enrollment with students returning from private schools or choosing to stay in our schools over private options. Our students continue to excel in the fine arts, e-sports, robotics, and athletics. We have increased family engagement work across the district with 85% of our families feeling welcomed and valued in 2024 as compared to 71% in 2023.

Finally, our vocal data, which is views on climate and learning environment, shows that our climate and culture rating is four times higher than the state's feeling of belonging. Swanscot continues to be a community where people want to live, mainly due to our schools and the programs we offer. I'm extremely proud of what we have accomplished while remaining within our budget guidance.

Thank you.

[Speaker 1] (1:13:36 - 1:13:59)
Thank you, Ms. Angelakis. That concludes the reports under Article 1. Before we move to Article 2, Mr. Schneider, I believe you should have received on your way in a blue copy of the consent agenda. Mr. Hartman, I'm sorry.

[Speaker 2] (1:14:06 - 1:14:38)
Good evening. Eric Hartman, Precinct 1, Town Meeting Member, Chair of the Finance Committee. The Finance Committee recommends the Town vote to approve the following articles as set forth in the printed warrant.

Do I need to read all of these individually? Just the numbers. That Article 7, 8, 10, 11, and 13 be considered together as consent agenda articles, where such articles are routine or typically approved without significant debate, and that these articles be approved as set forth in the printed warrant.

Thank you. Is there a second?

[Speaker 1] (1:14:40 - 1:15:32)
Before we begin, I'd like to describe for some of our new members the use of the consent agenda. It's meant to adopt articles where we need to take a vote but that are not particularly controversial and or routine. If any member wants to take an article, multiple articles, out of the consent agenda, they may so move, and if seconded and by majority vote, the body decides they want to take it out of the consent agenda, we will.

I ask now, is there anyone who wishes to take any of these articles out of the consent agenda? Seeing none, I will ask for a vote on Mr. Hartman's motion to adopt the consent agenda. All in favor, please raise your hands.

All opposed. The consent agenda is adopted unanimously. Thank you.

Coming now to Article 2, Mr. Hartman.

[Speaker 2] (1:15:33 - 1:17:22)
The Finance Committee recommends the Town vote to authorize payment of bills for prior fiscal years totaling $214,120,061, as detailed in the printed warrant. And as funding, therefore, to transfer $85,940.81 from free cash and $128,179.80 from the retained earnings of the Sewer Enterprise Fund. I move the recommendation of the Finance Committee.

Is there a second? Mr. Hartman. So this is generally a routine article that we do every year and it's so that we can pay bills that might have come in in the current fiscal year that relate to the prior fiscal year.

There are some larger than usual numbers here, so I just want to briefly go through them. In the first issue, we had some old electric bills that were received from some of our utility companies. My understanding here is that the utilities had been misapplying some of our payments, which was causing confusion on the invoices we were receiving, and the Town did a detailed review of all those bills.

Unfortunately, the end result was that we actually owed about $82,000 from previous years to settle up all of our utility accounts. So that's what that first amount is getting assigned for. The other large amount relates to an invoice the Town received from Linn Water and Sewer.

This was from fiscal year 2022. This was identified as a billing issue on the part of Linn Water and Sewer. We typically get multiple bills throughout the year and then kind of a final true-up or reconciliation bill at the end of the year.

That bill was never received until this past year. So the intent for that one is to charge that against the retained earnings on the Sewer Enterprise Fund, and the rest were fairly mundane and smaller amounts.

[Speaker 1] (1:17:22 - 1:18:00)
Thank you, Mr. Hartman. I believe I understand there was actually a vacancy in the billing department at Linn Water and Sewer that may have led to that. Okay.

Any discussion on Mr. Hartman's motion for approving funding from free cash and from the Sewer Enterprise retained earnings to fund bills from previous years? This vote requires a four-fifths majority. All those in favor, please raise your hands.

All those opposed? The motion carries unanimously. Now, Mr. Hartman, I would entertain a motion to advance Article 4 before Article 3. Is it your intent to so move?

[Speaker 2] (1:18:00 - 1:18:08)
Yes. The Finance Committee recommends that action under this article be temporarily postponed. I move the recommendation of the Finance Committee.

Is there a second?

[Speaker 1] (1:18:09 - 1:18:18)
All those in favor of taking up Article 4? All those opposed? We will now come to Article 4.

Mr. Hartman.

[Speaker 2] (1:18:19 - 1:18:22)
So Article 4 was originally ‑‑ I think I read it already out of order.

[Speaker 1] (1:18:23 - 1:18:25)
That's all right. Get your motion on the floor.

[Speaker 2] (1:18:25 - 1:19:18)
Okay. The Finance Committee recommends that action under this article be indefinitely postponed. I move the recommendation of the Finance Committee.

Is there a second? Mr. Hartman. So this article was initially an article set up to establish a utility stabilization fund to support both mainly the school but also the town, largely related to some expectations that the new school might have larger utility bills than were originally planned.

Upon further consideration, we decided to roll the monies for this plan, which was $200,000 for the school and $50,000 for the town, directly into the operating budget, identified as reserve items. So we'll vote on these when we vote on Article 3 for the budget. And there is an MOU that was developed between the town administrator and the superintendent to govern how these funds will be used.

[Speaker 1] (1:19:18 - 1:19:35)
Thank you, Mr. Hartman. Is there any discussion of the motion to indefinitely postpone action under Article 4? All those in favor of Mr. Hartman's motion, please raise your hand. All those opposed, the motion carries. We now return to Article 3.

[Speaker 2] (1:19:35 - 1:21:15)
Mr. Hartman. The Finance Committee recommends adoption of each separate numbered line item as printed in the column entitled, Finance Committee recommended FY25 as found in the printed warrant with the following exceptions. Line 36, Facilities, increased by $50,000 from $385,000 to $430,500.

And line 58, Swampskate Public Schools, increased by $200,000 from $32,199,096 to $32,399,096. I move the recommendation of the Finance Committee and further that the sum of $81,483,641 be raised and appropriated as follows. One, raise and appropriate from taxes and other local receipts and state aid $72,195,889, not including state assessments and offsets of $1,826,288 that do not require appropriation.

Two, sewer rates $2,965,359. Three, water rates $4,293,773. Four, public education and governmental cable TV access funds $200,400.

Five, solid waste funds $1,578,219. And free cash $250,000. I move the recommendation of the Finance Committee.

Is there a second? Mr. Hartman. Thank you.

If we could start the presentation.

[Speaker 1] (1:21:18 - 1:21:19)
One moment.

[Speaker 2] (1:21:51 - 1:37:31)
Good evening everybody. Eric Hartman, Chair of the Finance Committee, Town Meeting Member, Precinct 1. I'm trying to debate if I need my greeting glasses for these, so bear with me.

I might be taking them on and off. So before I dive right into the discussion of the operating budget, I wanted to really start by the process that's brought us to tonight's budget. We're presenting a balanced budget that's being recommended to Town Meeting tonight and the discussions on this budget really probably started back in the fall of last year.

So the formal process kicked off in January when town staff issued guidelines and memos to all department heads telling them about the process of developing their annual budgets. This memo included instructions to prepare two different budget scenarios. One outlined a level-funded level of service and the other representing a 10% reduction.

Later in January and February, the town staff met with department heads and reviewed their submittals in detail and ultimately prepared the consolidated budget that was recommended by the town administrator. Around the same time, the Capital Improvement Committee and the school budget were also being developed and reviewed. In mid-February, the Finance Committee began having a series of public meetings to review and debate the proposed budget with town staff.

We invited several department heads to come and discuss their specific concerns, really about being able to operate their departments within this proposed budget. We met with the Capital Improvement Committee. We had meetings with the superintendent and the school business manager to work through the school budget request.

And we had joint meetings with the Select Board. All of these meetings were public and available to anybody who wanted to join virtually and offer public comment. So I really just want town meeting members to really, first of all, be aware of their ability to participate in the process early, to raise concerns or questions as this budget develops.

And I would encourage more people to attend these meetings next year, especially with the new town meeting members who are welcome tonight. So tonight we're presenting the culmination of all these discussions, which resulted in a balanced budget that lives within the fiscal guidelines that the town has been operating under for many years. These guidelines have helped the town get its fiscal house in order.

So let's briefly review some of those guidelines. The policies have strengthened our overall financial picture and have allowed us to build reserves while controlling the growth in the tax levy to levels below what Prop 2.5 would otherwise allow. One of the key fiscal policies for the town is we strive to work to limit the growth of the tax levy to 2% plus new growth.

We did this by, I'm sorry, we also have policies providing guidelines on how much money the town will strive to carry in our various reserve accounts. Showing the fiscal discipline that is a result of living within these policies is what has helped the town strengthen our balance sheet, control the growth of taxes, and build solid financial reserves. And ultimately this year these efforts were rewarded when the town received the highest bond rating of AAA in a recent bond issuance.

This improved bond rating would not have been possible without the fiscal prudence that the town has shown in recent years. And without the strength of our reserves and building our excess levy capacity, which as of fiscal year 2024 sits at about $7.2 million. If we look back just 10 years ago, our excess levy capacity was just under $300,000.

The strength of our reserves has also given us the flexibility to take on some of the bolder and more impactful projects that the town has, such as the new $100 million elementary school that is scheduled to open in the fall, and the acquisition of open space, both at Archer Street and the Hawthorne property. These are generational type projects that would not have been, or that would have been much more challenging, if not impossible for the town, if we had not initiated our fiscal policies many years ago. So let's talk about some of the highlights of the proposed budget.

Tonight's general fund proposed budget of $72.4 million, excluding enterprise fund expenditures, represents about a 3.3% increase over the 2024 budget. So what are some of the main drivers of our operating budget? This pie chart groups our general fund expenditures into six main categories.

The first is a grouping of six budget groups that individually account for less than 3% of the total budget. When we group them together, they account for 9% of the total budget. These include state assessments, which are costs that the state sends to the town for things like charter school assessments and MBTA assessments.

These are actually down about 5% this year. Also included is public services, things like facilities and the public works department. Human services, which includes the senior center, library and veteran services.

Community and economic development, which includes community development and planning and the building department and the board of health, along with recreation. In total, this grouping accounts for 9% of the total general fund expenditures, or about $6.5 million, and was just slightly less than what we spent on this category last year, largely due to the reduction in some of the assessments that I mentioned. Next we have administration and finance, at $3.5 million or about 5% of the total budget. This grouping includes the cost of the town administrator and town clerk, the town finance team, our legal expenses, as well as human resources and technology. This grouping is up about 9.7% in total, driven mostly by increases in human resources related to end of employment benefits and the salary reserve. Our next major category is debt service.

We began seeing increases here in 2023 when we started paying some of the debt service for the new elementary school. Then we have public safety, which is essentially police, fire and the harbormaster. This group accounts for 12% of our budget, or $8.4 million. But as a group, the personnel costs increased modestly at less than 1% over the 2024 budget. Next we have employee benefits. These account for 20% of our annual budget, or about $14 million.

This line item is largely unchanged from 2024, despite a 5% increase in our pension liability, which was largely offset by a 5% decrease in our health care costs. And finally we have the school department. The school department comes in at about 45% of the operating budget, or $32.4 million. Now this figure is just the budget to run the operations of the school, and does not include millions of dollars that support the school, but are carried on the town side of the budget. These costs include things like health insurance, general and workers' comp insurance, and certainly the debt service related to the new school. In 2023, if we accounted for all the costs related to the school, that figure amounts to about 68% of the 2023 fiscal budget.

So I wanted to share this graphic with Town Meeting to give you some context on where the town spends our tax dollars, and how the different areas relate to each other. So the budget was prepared under our historical guidelines of trying to limit the tax levy growth to 2% plus new growth. But Town Meeting should be aware that we did not assume our historical $425,000 new growth level.

Our assessor has taken a more realistic approach at what new growth the town can expect in 2025, and has settled on a number of $200,000 rather than our typical $425,000. As another data point, the 2024 new growth is currently forecasted to come in at just over $200,000 again. So we felt more comfortable taking this more conservative, but also more realistic approach to planning for our new growth number.

I also want to point out the debt service figure of $7.5 million is actually slightly higher than our financial guideline of 10% of general fund operating expenses, as it's running at about 10.4%. We also had to be a bit creative when it came to providing the dollars requested by the school committee and the superintendent. Discussions on the school budget began back in 2023 through tri-chair meetings, which are meetings of the chair of the school committee, the select board, and the finance committee. They often included the superintendent, the town administrator, and the school business manager.

Continued concerns over the school finances were discussed regularly, including discussions on the continued volatility of our state-mandated special education costs, as well as some concerns about the volatility of the cost of a new $100 million elementary school. So to meet the budget request from the superintendent and the school committee, the warrant contains an article proposing the transfer of $200,000 of free cash to a special education fund. This is a special education fund that we created last year with an initial deposit of about $315 million.

To date, no funds have been expended from this fund, but the school does expect to have to utilize some dollars in the coming year. And as we just said, Article 4 was initially intended to provide $200,000 of utility relief to the school budget, but as I just explained, we've moved that into the operating budget itself. Regarding our pension liabilities, so we are now one year closer to the projected fully-funded liability that we expect to achieve in 2031.

The 2025 operating budget contains a 5% increase in pension costs, which covers both our current liabilities and the catch-up from prior years. Lastly, we're continuing to be in a bit of a holding pattern with regards to dealing with the town's unfunded OPEB liability. This liability currently sits at $119 million, and the town is not making any contributions or setting aside any additional reserves to deal with this liability in the 2025 budget.

Instead, the town intends to deal with this once we've tackled the unfunded pension liability. We currently only have about $3.75 million reserved against that liability. So let's talk about our reserves.

At the beginning of the presentation, I mentioned that the town has various reserve funds to help protect the budget against unexpected events, or also to help minimize the impact on the taxpayer of an important town project. We have also established desired ranges for each of these accounts as part of our financial policies. These reserves include our General Stabilization Fund, which currently sits at $6.5 million, which is 9% of our operating budget, and right at the lower end of our desired range of 9% to 10%. Our Capital Stabilization Fund, which sits at $1.5 million, is also right at the lower end of our range. We also have desired ranges for retained earnings for both our water and sewer enterprise funds, and the goal here is to maintain 20% of operating expenses in our retained earnings accounts. This year we're falling below those ranges in part due to the $128,000 invoice I mentioned from Linn Water and Sewer, and also just due to lower use in the water funds, in part due to the heavy rains we had in the previous years and issues with, you know, folks using less water through conservation.

So while these balances are lower than our guidelines typically call for, we can address that when we set water and sewer rates later on in the year. Lastly, we have free cash, and free cash is effectively surplus revenue, and we like to maintain between 3% and 5% of our operating budget in free cash. Our last free cash certification that we received from the state came in at $3.7 million in July of 2023. Since that time, town meeting will remember that we used $1 million to limit the increase in the tax rate back in December, and tonight we have some articles that will further reduce our balance to $2.0 million, which will bring us to 2.8%, which is below the lower end of our range. So while the Finance Committee would prefer the free cash be above our preferred threshold, we do feel that it's important to provide the utility reserve, given the uncertainty of the utility costs for the new elementary school. This next slide shows us how we get from the $3.7 million of free cash that we had certified at the end of July to the $2 million of free cash we expect if all of tonight's articles that affect free cash are approved. The first item is $86,000 from Article 2, where we paid the old bills, the utility bills I mentioned. Next relates to the current article, Article 3, where we're proposing to use free cash to create two reserve accounts for the school and the town. I talked about those for the utility.

Then we have a transfer of free cash related to the Opioid Special Reserve Fund. These were monies that the town had received previously and have always been earmarked for the Opioid Fund, and we've always been excluding them from our free cash forecasts since these monies have been received. Lastly, we have Article 9, which proposes to add $200,000 to the Special Education Fund that I discussed earlier.

So this will result in a free cash balance that is $143,000 less than we would like to have to meet the lower end of our 2% goal. Now, forecasting what next year's free cash may look like can be challenging, but with the scrutiny that is applied to the operating budgets, we are expecting that less dollars are likely to be available to fall to free cash when the fiscal year wraps up in June. The town should also be aware that FY25 is the last year of the collective bargaining agreements for several key unions in town, including the teachers' union, the police, fire, and library.

So the Finance Committee is comfortable with the budget that is recommended tonight, and we feel it meets the needs of the town and is fiscally responsible. Thank you, Mr. Hartman.

[Speaker 1] (1:37:32 - 1:39:10)
Before we begin debate, here, here, here, here. I am impressed by the Finance Committee's work product. Procedurally, the way we handle the budget, for those of you who are new to this, we will deal with the budget as its own consent agenda.

We will take one vote after we've debated the entire budget, but what you're actually voting on are all of the numbered items shown in your printed warrant. I will call for debate on a page-by-page basis. Reminder, we are discussing those numbered items, the non-numbered items, and by numbered, I mean the line item number found in the second column.

The additional line item, the sub-line items are there for your reference to understand how the line item that you're voting on is made up. So that said, is there any discussion or debate on page 12, town moderator, the Select Board Finance Committee, Administration, Finance, and Accounting? The following page, 13, Assessing Treasury, Legal and Insurance, the First Part of Human Resources.

Yes, is that Ms. Zoll? I'm sorry, could you please, to the mic? People back home want to hear what you have to say as well.

[Speaker 33] (1:39:10 - 1:39:29)
Fair enough. I have a question that spans page 13 and page 14. It's the diversity coordinator.

I see that it was budgeted for $50,000, excuse me, for FY25. And then we had budgeted, I guess, $80,000 last year, and it's zero this year. So I'm just curious as to what the discrepancy is between those two.

[Speaker 1] (1:39:29 - 1:39:40)
Sure. It's my understanding, but I'll defer to town staff, that we had a contract resource. Got it.

And we're converting that to a full-time resource. That differential is a reasonable difference between those two.

[Speaker 33] (1:39:41 - 1:39:41)
Awesome. Thank you.

[Speaker 1] (1:39:43 - 1:41:02)
With that, moving to 14, Finishing Up Human Resources, Technology, Parking Clerk, and Town Clerk. Any discussion on 15, Community and Economic Development, including the Conservation Commission, Community and Economic Development, the Board of Appeals, the Building Department, the First Portion of Board of Health. Page 16, Concluding Board of Health, Historical Commission, Recreation, Beginning of Public Services with Facilities, and the Personal Portion of Cemetery.

Page 17, The Rest of Cemetery, Public Works as a Whole, Snow and Ice, and we'll leave Police to the next. Moving to 18, The Entire Police Budget, the Constable, the Harbormaster. Page 19, The Fire Department, Emergency Management, the Personnel Section of the Senior Center.

Yes, in the back. Is it Ms. Lau?

[Speaker 14] (1:41:15 - 1:41:43)
Mara Lau, Precinct 3. Could we just get some clarification when we're looking towards the bottom of page 20 about the school budget? I just want to be clear.

I'm a bit confused from Ms. Angelakis' conversations and update about cuts and the concern, the tremendous concern that I have of that.

[Speaker 1] (1:41:43 - 1:41:46)
Can I take it, ma'am, that you have no comment on page 19?

[Speaker 14] (1:41:46 - 1:41:52)
Oh, sorry. I thought we had moved to 20. So, no.

I'll stand here until 20.

[Speaker 1] (1:41:53 - 1:41:56)
Yes, a comment actually on Ms. Schutzer on 18 or 19.

[Speaker 28] (1:42:02 - 1:42:27)
Hi. Good evening. Carol Schutzer, Precinct 6.

So, I'm not sure. I think this is the line above, line 48, and I just would like some explanation. Last year, we had $140,000 on a Lend-Dispatch.

This year, it's $243,534. It seems like a very large increase. Could someone offer an explanation on that?

[Speaker 1] (1:42:27 - 1:42:43)
Thank you, Ms. Schutzer. I'll just paraphrase it. Line 48 is the expense subtotal from the Fire Department.

One of the sub-line items is Lend-Dispatch, which is increasing from $140,000 to $243,534. Mr. Fitzgerald or Ms. Serra?

[Speaker 27] (1:42:44 - 1:43:01)
So, the Lend-Dispatch contract previously had capital expenses separate from the amount that we paid to LEND. And with the new contract, they rolled those costs in together. So, instead of it being two separate items, it is now combined.

So, it's no longer funded through capital and operating. It's all operating.

[Speaker 28] (1:43:01 - 1:43:05)
So, is it the same or virtually the same as what we paid last year?

[Speaker 27] (1:43:05 - 1:43:07)
It's virtually the same level of service and no change there.

[Speaker 28] (1:43:07 - 1:43:08)
Okay. Thank you.

[Speaker 1] (1:43:09 - 1:43:37)
Thank you, Ms. Schutzer. Any further discussion of pages 18 or 19? Coming to page 20, the conclusion of the Senior Center, all of the veteran services, the library, and the public schools.

Ms. O'Connor, to a mic, please, so everyone can hear you.

[Speaker 3] (1:43:58 - 1:43:59)
Hello? Okay.

[Speaker 4] (1:44:02 - 1:44:03)
I offer the following.

[Speaker 1] (1:44:03 - 1:44:05)
I'm sorry, your name and your?

[Speaker 4] (1:44:05 - 1:44:13)
Oh, I'm sorry. My name is Amy O'Connor. I'm in Precinct 6.

I also am a school committee member. Let me just give?

[Speaker 1] (1:44:14 - 1:44:19)
Go ahead and state your amendment, and then I'll take the paper, and we'll confer with the clerk.

[Speaker 4] (1:44:19 - 1:44:49)
All right. I offer the following amendment. To increase the proposed expenditure in Line 58 of Swampscot Public Schools by $482,000 and pay for this from the tax levy, the new amount in Line 58 would be $32,881.96. $32,881.96. Taking the general fund town appropriation to $72,877,889.

[Speaker 1] (1:44:49 - 1:45:04)
Okay. May I have that amendment, please? I'm just going to review with the clerk, make sure that it's in order, and then I will ask for a second.

[Speaker 14] (1:45:09 - 1:45:13)
Could she just repeat it, please, or have it repeated for us?

[Speaker 1] (1:45:15 - 1:45:25)
I'm sorry. I just said that I'm going to confer with the clerk, and then I will make sure that we understand what we are voting on, if there is a second. Let's make sure it's in order first.

[Speaker 4] (1:45:37 - 1:45:38)
No, no.

[Speaker 1] (1:46:03 - 1:46:40)
Thank you, Ms. O'Connor. Thank you for your patience, members. That amendment is in order, and I will restate it now.

Ms. O'Connor has moved to amend Line 58 by increasing it $482,000, and that the funds for this come from the tax levy, making the new amount in Line 58 $32,881.096, and the general fund total town appropriation to be $72,877,889. Now is there a second?

[Speaker 21] (1:46:41 - 1:46:41)
Second.

[Speaker 1] (1:46:41 - 1:46:42)
Ms. O'Connor.

[Speaker 4] (1:46:44 - 1:58:49)
So first let me apologize for having my back to the superintendent. It's just the way that this is set up. I'm working on it.

Okay. Like the superintendent spoke to, I am enormously proud of what she and all of our educators accomplish with the budget that we have been granted. But unlike the super, I am not a school employee who has to toe the line.

I'm a school committee member with 12 years of experience on this board and going through 12 years of this process. I want to start by thanking Ms. Angelakis, as well as our assistant director of finance, Ms. Stella, as well as the group that they have worked with so diligently throughout the year, the finance committee, as well as Mr. Fitzgerald and Ms. Zorro. Among the many things included in this proposed budget, there are some new things like monies to add additional buses, which fulfills a promise made to the town to alleviate traffic.

That boosts it up. It includes efficiencies, particularly in special education, as we bring our resources into one building. We have a new part-time program with Essex Tech so that our kids can build vocational schools without leaving the district.

It funds a middle school math curriculum change. It takes care of many of our fixed obligations. But unfortunately, it still leaves our school with unmet needs.

For the past 10 years, the school department has contained growth to an average of 2% annually, sometimes a little up, sometimes a little down. At the same time, every fixed and mandated cost has grown by more than 2.5%, special education in particular by 6% over the same time. During COVID, we cut our operating budget by $180,000 and filled the gaps with federal funds.

Those funds are now gone, but those cuts in the operating budget remained permanent, and the calamity of COVID still persists in our schools. So we're faced with simple math. Expenses grow, new needs arise, our budget grows less, so cuts are required.

In the past two years, we have cut, or not replaced, 40 positions. A few were funded by federal grants, so losing that grant meant losing those positions. But in some cases, those needs still persist.

40 positions lost after our students returned from a year spent learning on a screen in their bedrooms. 40 positions when suicide, depression, anxiety, and drug use are at historic levels. Yes, our student count did dip in 2021, but it's rebounding, and their needs are unprecedented.

School is now a social service provider, augmenting what used to be home issues. We provide clinical services, therapists, counselors, behaviorists, tutors, aides, known as multi-tiered supports. It's not like when we were all kids in school, and we were just 25 students sitting in front of a teacher.

There are push-in and pull-out services. They're learning biology, but they're also learning things like emotional regulation. A strong district has to provide all kinds of services beyond just reading, writing, and arithmetic.

And we are struggling, particularly with the loss of federal grants. Across the Commonwealth, many towns and school districts regularly need periodic catch-ups, usually funded by overrides. A reset, if you will.

And Swampscot School District needs a reset. Constraining our growth to 2.5% while all of our costs grow faster leaves us with an imbalance. Our town has prospered with a fiscally conservative policy, keeping us well below the limits of Prop 2.5. Our lower Swampscot tax rate has positioned us as number 262 out of 350 towns. The commendable work of the Select Board, FinCom, and Town Administrator have to be celebrated. This tight policy led to our AAA rating, and it helps build our new school and readies us for updates needed in the other schools in the coming years. I thank them for that.

Working in concert, the district uses a zero-based budgeting policy to ensure that efficiencies are required. And those are the efficiencies required of a responsible school district, responsible to the taxpayers who invest dearly. Each year, we shuffle our resources to meet changing needs, confirm that we don't carry money for services that are no longer required.

But the belt-tightening and the imbalance of cost growth to budget growth is cutting into our bone. Forty less people in two years to support our kids isn't the direction that we should be going in. With this policy, cuts will continue next year.

Best practice is to, after ten years of cutting and rearranging and cutting again, we've lost ground. One year, our math scores drop, so we funnel money to support that. Then our English scores drop, so we take the money from the math department and hand it over to the English department.

It's really an endless cycle. Our superintendent and the director of finance, along with their principals, come to the end of each year and figure out what are the least worst things to give up next year. And this shouldn't be the norm.

And we can afford to do better as a town without the painful overrides that other towns face. Some needs were detailed during our January budget hearing, and some have been reprioritized in the four months since that was presented because of how quickly things can change. At the time of our 3-2 vote, which has been noted a couple of times tonight, the chair of our school committee stated that this is a depressing budget.

The superintendent said it was doable, and I say that doable doesn't meet the expectations of our citizens. At least, I don't think so. This week, members of the school committee fielded an unprecedented number of calls about our budget.

Many had suggestions of what else could be cut, but as an elected representative for our schools and, more importantly, for our students, I say that it's time for a reset so we can stop talking about what to cut and focus the conversation more directly on what we need. Two very common questions came up this week, and the first was, why didn't we ask for more? And there are four reasons that factor into this.

Last year, we asked the superintendent to present a budget that met guidelines. With that, she also identified what was unmet. As is standard, the school committee then submitted our proposal to the town administrator.

It was higher to capture some of those unmet needs, but it was dead on arrival, not even considered. It was argued that the super had already submitted a lower and insufficient budget. This cuts off the legs of the school committee and our responsibilities to our district.

Last year at this meeting, the chair of the finance committee recommended revisiting the town financial policy because of, quote, concerns whether or not the town can continue to provide the services that the town expects. I was very encouraged, thinking that the door was finally opening on these discussions that we had tried to have for the last two years. We elected a new school committee chair who has a different style in the hopes that a new approach with the tri-chair meetings would yield a better understanding of our district need.

She pushed for this broader conversation about the finance policy, and our committee believed that the discussions in these tri-chair meetings would further trigger these financial policy discussions, but it didn't. The monthly meetings definitely yielded support for our higher-than-usual ask. It has a better understanding of our special education costs, but it didn't yield structural changes to support our budget shortfalls.

In November, this is the fourth piece, all departments were notified, as Mr. Hartman pointed out, that the financial policy remained the same, and due to general lower receipts, we were left with a modest 1.3 percent budget growth. Departments were asked to know what they needed. So the superintendent presented, again, what is doable, or as she just spoke to, what's workable.

3.8 percent, or now higher because it includes the electric bill, is already higher than what a lot of the other departments in town are paying. And as has been the point for 10 years, we've been told, well, if you want more, you're going to have to take it from another department. But this doesn't have to be true.

A second important question came up at the select board meeting last week, which was about Medicaid funding. I'm not quite sure why, but on page 8 of this warrant, the SPED Medicaid reimbursement line reads all zeros. We have, in fact, started to recapture this funding and anticipate this year it will be approximately 15 grand, with that number only increasing in 2025 once we have a full year of reimbursements.

But some history is needed. In 2019, the town did receive $171,000 in reimbursements. Historically, these were unrestricted and didn't actually reimburse the schools for expenditures.

Also, at that time, the filing process became particularly complicated, and obviously, we have no medical billing department. Many towns, like ours, paused filing. In addition to the cumbersome process, there was a general skittishness among school finance managers because some towns actually wound up owing monies.

On advice from our then manager, we paused filings. During budget negotiations last year, I'm grateful to Ms. Fletcher, who was instrumental in striking a deal between the district and the town. One particular piece was that we would resume filing, but the funds instead would go directly to this newly established special ed reserve fund that we've spoken of so much today.

The side note is that this process is still wildly cumbersome and personally invasive. Our superintendent provides far more personal information and personal attestations than she should have to for the benefit of our municipality. It's a big ask of her.

So using 2019 as a guide, we potentially missed up to $400,000 in reimbursements, but possibly less because it was also during COVID when some services weren't provided or were done virtually. These decisions were all made publicly. They were never hidden.

So I come back to my ask after all of that. I know it was long. The number I was looking for originally was about $1.2 million. This would save all of our cuts and fund all of our needs. I pared that down again to $800,000 and then down again to $482,000. I based this on the superintendent's reporting that this number represents the reinstatement of our highest need cuts and also includes money, importantly, for an independent audit of our budget, contracts, and future needs.

I recognize that the select board, and therefore the public, question the veracity of school spending, and I look forward to bringing the results back to the public. We're confident in our numbers. This request moves the needle, but it doesn't solve the larger issue of underfunding.

And with this money, the schools can mitigate some of the larger cuts, the district will undergo an audit, and we hope that this finally prods a conversation that we have tried to have for two years, whether or not the town financial policy can meet the needs that its citizens expect. It's time to soul search about what we value in town. This $482,000 is approximately 7% of the current excess levy capacity.

Data provided by the assessor's office puts an estimate of about $90 annually to the average taxpayer. I respectfully ask for your support in this amendment.

[Speaker 1] (1:58:50 - 1:59:05)
Thank you, Ms. O'Connor. We turn now to debate on Ms. O'Connor's amendment to Mr. Hartman's initial motion. Ms. Lau, thank you for patiently waiting.

[Speaker 14] (1:59:07 - 2:00:30)
Thank you very much. So thank you, Ms. O'Connor, that was great information. I guess I would like to stand and rise in complete support of this change and this increase.

I do hope quietly it is a sufficient amount, because the cuts in the past 20 years that I've had students in the schools have been very detrimental to a lot of students' well-being. And so I'll give a quick synopsis of the BAND program. It was about 12 years ago, completely ruined and wrecked.

So there was cuts made at the middle school for the BAND program, and then they were made at the high school as well. As we know, BAND is a feeder program, and if we can all watch the football games and know that Mr. Rovey's BAND program came back this year in beautiful fashion, and they deserve to be commended because the community enjoys things that our students produce. And so let us not forget that all of our students are part of our community, and we benefit from them having beneficial opportunities.

So certainly I hope that this amount will be sufficient and will be approved. Thank you very much for supporting our students.

[Speaker 1] (2:00:31 - 2:00:59)
Thank you, Ms. Lau. I have a number of persons who have asked to speak who are not town meeting members, but they are residents of Swampscott and by our charter. They are allowed to speak as of right.

I do try to recognize elected town meeting members first. But having been warned in advance, is Ms. Buckland in the hall and still wish to speak?

[Speaker 7] (2:01:11 - 2:01:12)
Thank you, Mr. Moderator.

[Speaker 1] (2:01:13 - 2:01:15)
If you could just your name and your address. Sure.

[Speaker 7] (2:01:16 - 2:01:23)
My name is Rebecca Buckland. I'm in Precinct 1, and I am the president of the Swampscott Education Association.

[Speaker 1] (2:01:24 - 2:01:24)
Please.

[Speaker 7] (2:01:24 - 2:07:58)
I am here to support amending Article 3, line 58, funding the school budget. To be completely transparent, I have thought a lot about what I wanted to convey to all of you in the short amount of time I had to speak. I thought about arguing about impossible asks in budget that could never keep a school functioning properly.

But ultimately, I figured you had heard the numbers and have seen the facts, so I decided to talk about the most important aspect, our students and our educators. I personally have felt a range of emotions over the last couple of weeks. I have been angry, disappointed, and truthfully, for the most part, frustrated and sad.

I or my vice presidents have sat in on meetings where respected, caring, and thoughtful teachers, ESPs, and tutors have been told their positions have been cut or drastically reduced. To the credit of these individuals, they have consistently handled themselves with grace, but more importantly, and what speaks volumes, is the concern and care in which they have shown for their students and how this will inevitably impact them. That's what always strikes me, how much these educators care.

When I come home after these days and vent to my husband, children, or anyone else not in the field, they all say the same thing. There really is something special about teachers, and they are right. There truly is something very different and special about them.

Our jobs are complex and encompass so much more than it ever has. The classrooms of the past no longer exist. The needs of our students are very different.

As an elementary school teacher, I am not only an educator, but a substitute mom, dad, counselor, mediator, healer of both boo-boos and hearts, and always the loudest cheerleader. So much happens in a day, and it is, as teachers, our responsibility to handle it all. The social, emotional, health, welfare, and ultimate well-being of our students, in addition to providing a robust education.

American educator Todd Whitaker stated, the best thing about being a teacher is that it matters. The hardest thing about being a teacher is that it matters every day. The weight of that statement hits heavy as we continue to cut educators.

According to the superintendent's own budget book, 40 teachers have been cut in the last five years, and 16.6 are slated for this year alone. As educators, we are working with a population of students who are experiencing a world very different than ever before. A world where at every turn and at any moment, their lives can be turned upside down just by the stroke of a key.

Anxiety is at an all-time high, and students are requiring more support and intervention. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, youth suicide is a serious public health problem, responsible for more deaths among youths ages 10 to 24 than any single major medical illness. Incidents of suicide are on the rise, up 62% since 2017.

In addition, students have suffered real trauma post-COVID. We currently have students experiencing homelessness, parents who have lost jobs, and a growing population of students who have been exposed to and experienced the trauma of war, seeking refuge and help in our community, yet we continue to cut teachers. With mental health issues on the rise, it is even more important to find opportunities to connect with our students, not only as it relates to academics, but more importantly, as it relates to their overall well-being.

Our kids are walking through our doors each morning with more on their minds than ever before. Many hold burdens and challenges that we are unaware of. Our students need trusted adults in their school that they can rely on to help navigate these problems, yet we continue to cut teachers.

As educators, it is our job and our commitment to challenge our students academically, to provide them with lessons and curriculum that require them to become critical thinkers and askers of thought-provoking questions. We encourage them to speak up for themselves and challenge the status quo. We work to not only challenge our students to be their best selves, but to cheer along with them during their successes and to help them work through the struggles and disappointments that come in life.

As educators, we are asked to do a lot. We have such important work to do. What we do matters every day, yet we continue to cut teachers.

I am often reminded that those of us who work in education, most importantly those of us who work directly with children, are tasked with and have a tremendous responsibility to those in our charge. Whether our students are 5, 13, or 17, we have the obligation to be an instrument of inspiration and to remember that our students, just like us, their teachers, have good days and bad, and it is on their worst days that we, as adults, teachers, and mentors, need to be at our best. But that is becoming an impossible task.

Teachers are stretched thin, as is, and cutting positions will make these opportunities for connections even harder. And ultimately, with every cut, it becomes that much more difficult to stay keyed in and able to catch that student who is in trouble or vulnerable. So I ask you, every one of you, as parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, and community members, how, with these continued cuts to education, can we keep providing our students, our children, with what they need?

Is providing them with a doable budget in the town of Swampscott really necessary? As the adults in this room, as members of this community, we have an obligation, a responsibility, and a voice to make sure our students, our children, get what they need. We, collectively, need to speak up, because when our children ask if we fought for them, I hope the answer is a resounding yes.

Thank you.

[Speaker 34] (2:07:58 - 2:07:59)
Thank you, Ms. Buckland.

[Speaker 1] (2:08:04 - 2:08:05)
Mr. Pinkerton.

[Speaker 31] (2:08:15 - 2:08:43)
Thank you, Mr. Moderator. Don Pinkerton, precinct 3 town meeting member. I just have a question.

I wanted to get a clarification. I'm really, these arguments are really interesting to me. I'm a former educator, and I certainly can understand the points of view here, but on one hand, I'm hearing that there's one teacher-facing cut this year, and then on the other, I'm hearing there's 16.

So I'm just trying to understand the discrepancy in those figures, if there's someone on the board or somewhere that can answer that question, please.

[Speaker 1] (2:08:44 - 2:08:47)
Thank you, Mr. Pinkerton. Ms. Stellas or Ms. Angelakis?

[Speaker 5] (2:08:48 - 2:09:33)
I'd be happy to answer that. So some, when, there's actually one teacher that is getting a reduction in force letter. There are 16.6 positions that are being reduced. That happens through efficiencies. It happens through retirements. It happens through programs going away and positions not being filled.

So the total of 16.6 positions, not all are teaching positions, as was stated earlier. Some are educational support professionals. Some are tutors.

Some are resignations of positions that are not being filled. So there are 16.6, but there is one letter being given, and maybe that doesn't matter to this body, but that's what I wanted to share.

[Speaker 1] (2:09:34 - 2:09:43)
Thank you, Ms. Angelakis. I have a, well, Ms. Marshall, certainly. And then I have some other residents who wish to speak.

[Speaker 26] (2:09:48 - 2:10:28)
Hello. Karen Marshall, precinct 2 town meeting member, member of the school committee. I rise also to support this amendment.

This increased appropriation is necessary for all the reasons that Ms. O'Connor articulated. This increase would serve to address shortfalls for 25, but would also raise the baseline of our budget for subsequent years to position the district closer to our true needs. Clearly, our boards and our elected officials on all sides have further work to do to review our financial policies, budgetary needs, and priorities.

But we should do that work in a way that ensures that our students and teachers do not suffer in the meantime. And I urge my fellow town meeting members to vote in favor of this amendment.

[Speaker 1] (2:10:29 - 2:10:34)
Thank you, Ms. Marshall. In the middle, yes, please.

[Speaker 9] (2:10:44 - 2:14:10)
Hi. I'm Nancy Hanlon, town meeting member, precinct 2. I'd like to speak to support the amendment of the school budget line item.

Drawing from my extensive experience as a speech language pathologist in the public schools for over three decades, with 20 of those years dedicated to serving the students of Swanscott. Throughout my tenure, I have witnessed the ebb and flow of special education needs, but never have I seen such a profound shift as that which is occurring, which occurred during the upheaval caused by the pandemic. Developing speech and language is an essential childhood milestone.

In the public education system, students can qualify as early as two years, nine months, to receive a variety of educational services, including speech and language. The challenges imposed by remote and hybrid learning, as well as mass mandates, presented unprecedented hurdles, particularly in a field where observation of the mouth and tongue movements is essential for effective therapy. While the state's pandemic education funding, known as ESSER, provided much needed support in various areas, including remote learning resources, safety measures, and addressing learning losses, these fundings were finite and temporary.

Unfortunately, the needs of our students persist. Teachers continue to grapple with learning deficits, behavioral challenges, and social-emotional concerns exacerbated by the pandemic. Special education expenditures constitute over 30% of the total school budget, with out-of-district tuition seeing a staggering 19% increase over the past two years.

While state funding provided a buffer post-pandemic, these resources have dissipated, leaving us to contend with rising costs, including transportation expenses inflated by broader economic trends. However, the reduction of state funding does not reflect a reduction in student needs. Students still require additional support as they work to gain missing skills.

Despite the fiscal strains, cutting positions will not resolve the variety of challenges faced by teachers and students. We cannot accept a student's needs going overlooked because there are too many kids in the classroom. We cannot accept a student's behavior to be allowed to rise to a level where they lose self-control because we had to reduce special education support services.

We can't accept letting kids fall through the cracks. Every child deserves the opportunity to thrive during their formative years, and the ramifications of neglecting special education needs reverberate throughout our entire school system. With special education, we are talking about issues and concerns that affect either directly or indirectly every single student in our school.

I urge you to stand with me in supporting this budget amendment, recognizing that investing in special education is an investment in the future of all our students. Thank you.

[Speaker 1] (2:14:10 - 2:14:20)
Thank you, Ms. Hanlon. I had a request from a Sophia Comfort. Is Ms. Comfort in the hall?

[Speaker 18] (2:14:29 - 2:15:46)
Thank you, Mr. Moderator. I'm Sophia Comfort, Precinct 1. I'm a senior here at Swampscott High School.

I'm sure many of you are aware of the ongoing student-facing cuts that our system has been facing these past few years. I'd like to take a moment to emphasize the importance of every teacher and staff member that works in these buildings. We all know teachers guide students in learning, keep order in the classroom, and assess student ability.

What many people do not realize is the emotional and social support that educators offer to their students. I can recall a time when I was having a falling out with one of my friends, and I broke down into tears during my psychology class. Without hesitation, my teacher knew something was wrong and knew exactly what to do to help me.

She offered me snacks and talked me through what we could do to better my situation in her class. These small gestures that teachers make every day have a lasting impact on each student in these buildings. Without resources and educators, these walls are just brick and mortar, and they can't teach, mentor, and support young learners.

On behalf of the student body at Swampscott High School, I encourage this body to strongly consider appropriating the funding of our schools to continue to provide and sustain upcoming students with the education and teacher support that they so urgently need.

[Speaker 1] (2:15:47 - 2:15:54)
Thank you, Ms. Comfort. I also have a Morgan Bilodeau.

[Speaker 13] (2:16:07 - 2:18:29)
Hi, I'm Morgan Bilodeau, Precinct 5. Good evening, everyone. My name is Morgan Bilodeau, and I'm a junior, soon to be senior, at Swampscott High School.

In my three years at the school, I've seen how teacher cuts have affected the high school's educational environment and the student body. I recently combed through my school records to quantify how my class sizes have changed since my freshman year. The number of people of most of them has grown substantially.

For example, my freshman year Honors English class had 11 students, whereas now my AP English Language class has 24. Similarly, my Honors World History class had 17 students, but now my AP U.S. History class has a whopping 27. I suspect that if the budget isn't amended and these teacher cuts move forward, the situation is going to become even worse.

This dramatic uptick has made assignments, particularly project presentations and class discussions, cumbersome. What used to take two days to complete now takes a full week or more. I also imagine that this makes grading incredibly time-intensive.

Hours that were previously devoted to practice and learning have been eroded. Our classrooms have become increasingly crowded and uncomfortable, and I've noticed that many previously engaged students have become wary of participating due to the intimidating number of people in the room. Teacher cuts typically target new educators rather than those with seniority.

While we certainly want to retain our most experienced teachers, losing new educators is also a problem. Often these newcomers bring fresh perspectives, contemporary views, and enthusiasm to the positions, and it's upsetting and detrimental to the school to lose them. I also feel that it's often subjects that aren't included on the MCAS or other standardized exams that are not prioritized.

This deprives students of the opportunity to explore interests through electives, and it reduces the number of classes in the humanities. These give students the ability to think critically, contextualize, and interpret materials, skills that are increasingly more important in a digital landscape awash in unvetted information. While I agree that the town needs to have broad priorities, none of these should come at the expense of a quality education.

I ask that the town meeting members vote yes. By amending and increasing the school budget to save educator positions, we are providing students with the best means to receive a complete, comprehensive education. Thank you.

[Speaker 1] (2:18:29 - 2:21:17)
Thank you, Ms. Bilodeau. Mr. Perry, is there a second? Mr. Perry is asking to call the question which end debate on this amendment and move directly to a vote on Ms. O'Connor's amendment for the school's line item. All those in favor of ending debate, please raise your hand. All those opposed? That motion carries.

We will move directly to a vote on Ms. O'Connor's amendment. All those in favor of the amendment to increase the school's line item by $482,000, thereby increasing the total general fund appropriation to $72,677,889, and the entire appropriation to $81,965,641. Please raise your hands.

All those opposed? The motion carries. We return now to Mr. Hartman's original motion as amended. Any further discussion on page 20? Any discussion on page 21, employee benefits, state charges assessments, and the sewer enterprise personnel and expense subtotals? Page 22, the interest on the sewer bonds as well as the water enterprise fund in its entirety, the public educational government TD enterprise fund in its entirety, and the personnel portion of the solid waste enterprise fund?

Finally, any discussion on page 23, which concludes the solid waste enterprise fund expenses? Seeing no further debate, all those in favor of Mr. Hartman's original motion as amended by Ms. O'Connor, please raise your hand. All opposed?

The motion carries. We move now to Article V, and I'll recognize Mr. McDonald. I believe I would entertain a motion from Mr. McDonald to consider 5 and 6 together.

[Speaker 22] (2:21:19 - 2:21:22)
Yes, the motion is to consider 5 and 6 together.

[Speaker 1] (2:21:22 - 2:21:23)
Okay, just your name and precinct.

[Speaker 22] (2:21:23 - 2:21:28)
Sorry, Greg McDonald, Precinct 2, town meeting member, member of the Finance Committee.

[Speaker 1] (2:21:28 - 2:21:31)
You do move to consider 5 and 6 together.

[Speaker 22] (2:21:31 - 2:21:31)
Is there a second?

[Speaker 1] (2:21:31 - 2:21:45)
Move to consider 5 and 6 together. Is there a second? Second.

All those in favor of Mr. McDonald's motion to take up 5 and 6 together? All those opposed? Motion carries.

We now turn to 5 and 6 at the same time. Mr. McDonald.

[Speaker 22] (2:21:45 - 2:21:54)
Yes, Article V and Article VI, the Finance Committee recommends the town approve these articles as set forth in the printed warrant. I move the recommendation of the Finance Committee.

[Speaker 1] (2:21:54 - 2:21:55)
Is there a second?

[Speaker 22] (2:21:57 - 2:22:57)
Mr. McDonald. Yeah, basically, did we have a slide on this? We do.

Okay. It's basically an accounting maneuver. We're taking what was opioid special purpose funds received, I believe it was two years ago, into a special purpose fund.

Sorry, previously it was into free cash. We did not have a special purpose fund. And then last year it was a special purpose fund.

We're combining it into basically one accounting revenue fund. So it's basically transferring the numbers you see on the screen into one account instead of two separate accounts for efficiency purposes.

[Speaker 1] (2:22:58 - 2:23:05)
And if I understand correctly, maybe, Ms. Sarah, you can correct me, the state or the federal authorities have changed the way that this fund should be handled?

[Speaker 27] (2:23:06 - 2:23:22)
Yes, legislation was passed to create this into a special revenue fund, which means we have to rescind the previously voted special purpose fund and take the free cash opioid fund specifically for this purpose and also put it in this.

[Speaker 1] (2:23:22 - 2:23:32)
In essence, they decided they wanted to put it in a different fund. We are taking monies already received and putting it in what is now the legislatively correct fund.

[Speaker 27] (2:23:33 - 2:23:33)
That's correct.

[Speaker 1] (2:23:34 - 2:23:57)
Is there any discussion on Mr. McDonald's motion? Seeing none. All those in favor of the motion to adopt 5 and 6 as shown in the printed warrant.

All those opposed. The motion carries. We move now to Article 9, Article 7 and 8 having been adopted in the consent agenda.

Is that Mr. Rodriguez? Article 9.

[Speaker 25] (2:24:04 - 2:24:35)
Thank you, Adrian Rodriguez, Precinct 5 Town Meeting Member, Finance Committee. This is the Special Education Reserve Fund, as explained by Mr. Hartman's presentation earlier tonight. The Finance Committee recommends the town vote to transfer $200,000 from free cash to the Special Education Reserve Fund.

I move the recommendation of the Finance Committee. Is there a second? Second.

Mr. Rodriguez? Is there to say the town will vote to transfer?

[Speaker 1] (2:24:35 - 2:24:42)
Any commentary about the uses or purposes of the $200,000, the current value of the account? I understand there's been no usage as of yet.

[Speaker 25] (2:24:43 - 2:24:56)
Yeah, so this is just one of the three ways for the department to meet their budget. Currently it's unused, I think $350,000, adding the $200,000 to be used for this year.

[Speaker 1] (2:24:57 - 2:25:02)
And then if I could, Ms. Sarah, the balance in the account will be what after this?

[Speaker 27] (2:25:02 - 2:25:05)
The balance with this will be $550,000.

[Speaker 1] (2:25:05 - 2:25:32)
$550,000. Any further questions on Mr. Rodriguez's motion? All those in favor of Mr. Rodriguez's motion to transfer $200,000 from free cash to the Special Education Reserve Fund?

All those opposed? The motion carries. Item 10 and 11, Articles 10 and 11 have been adopted in the Consent Agenda.

We come to Article 12. Ms. Hilario.

[Speaker 21] (2:25:42 - 2:25:57)
Good evening. Joan Hilario, Precinct 1 Town Meeting Member, member of the Finance Committee. The Finance Committee recommends the town vote to approve Article 12 as set forth in the printed warrant.

I move the recommendation of the Finance Committee.

[Speaker 1] (2:25:57 - 2:25:59)
Is there a second? Ms. Hilario.

[Speaker 21] (2:26:02 - 2:26:41)
So the Finance Committee had several discussions about this, and there is going to be a presentation on it right now. But we just did want to comment that this Act is 20-plus years that it's been in place. There are 190 communities within Massachusetts that have adopted it.

It is another method of raising money to support open space, historic preservation, and affordable housing. And for that reason, we support this.

[Speaker 1] (2:26:42 - 2:26:48)
Thank you, Ms. Hilario. Did you mean to defer to Mr. Thompson for the presentation?

[Speaker 21] (2:26:48 - 2:26:51)
And Select Board Member Doug Thompson is going to do his presentation.

[Speaker 1] (2:26:56 - 2:26:57)
Mr. Thompson.

[Speaker 3] (2:26:57 - 2:27:41)
Doug Thompson, Select Board Member, Town Meeting Member, Precinct 5, Climate Action Committee, Affordable Housing Trust. I invite members of various committees to, or chairs of various committees in support of this, to join me here up front while I do this brief presentation from Affordable Housing, Open Space, Historic Preservation, Historic Commission, Finance Committee, Housing Authority. I think that covers them all.

[Speaker 1] (2:27:41 - 2:27:46)
If there's a chair of another committee, board, or commission that has supported this effort, please feel free to join us.

[Speaker 3] (2:27:46 - 2:41:02)
Oh, Swampscott Conservancy, anyone else that wants to come on down. All right. So I'm going to go through this fast.

People can ask questions afterward, but this has been available. We've had two public sessions. It's been available on the website for quite some time, and hopefully people have had a chance to review the basics here.

As stated, this is a longstanding statewide program that focuses on open space, recreation, affordable housing, community housing, and historic preservation. Strengthening local economies by making these types of investments, local jobs, and it has been in place for over 20 years. And basic function is that it adds a small surcharge on top of property taxes, which then get matched to some degree, which varies by state funds, which is the key point here.

So this is a great, I think, smart investment to add to our toolbox of the ways that we are financially managing the town. Next slide, please. I believe Ms. Valerio has already commented on a number of these items. This is widely used across Massachusetts. Seventy percent of all residents live in a town that benefits from CPA. I would hasten to add that just about everyone that has done a transaction of some real estate in this town over the last 20 years has contributed funds to projects all over the Commonwealth, and not one dime of it has actually been spent here in Swampscott through this program.

This happens through a deed fee. I think it's time to bring our money back home. These are the types of programs that we've helped fund and other people have helped fund all across the Commonwealth.

Billions of dollars spent on open space, housing, and historic preservation. Next slide. The way this works is that it can be a surcharge up to three percent of the property tax bill.

This is not three percent on the entire assessed value. There's some complications that people misunderstand this. I'll get to the specifics.

The bottom line of this is that this amounts to, for the average single family home in Swampscott, that this would, as we're proposing it at 1.5 percent, amount to about $100 a year. That surcharge is then matched by state funds. Next slide.

If this were passed here at town meeting by a majority, what you are voting on tonight is simply to put it on the ballot in November because it must pass with a majority on the ballot in November. This program will not go into effect immediately if it passes here tonight. It will then go on to the November ballot.

If it were to pass there, then next year we would come back and there would be a bylaw amendment to establish a community preservation committee. There are some requirements about who's on that committee, which I'll get to on the next slide. That committee is required to do many things, which again I'll detail.

The most critical is every year they must allocate at least 30 percent of the funds raised, 10 percent for open space slash recreation, 10 percent for affordable housing, and 10 percent for historic preservation. The other 70 percent, there is freedom amongst the community preservation committee to determine what they recommend and most importantly, every recommendation comes back to this body and only this body for final approval. Next slide please.

This amongst pages and pages and pages of state regulation is the summary of what the community preservation committee is required to do. They need to take a full accounting of the needs in the community in these areas, solicit input from boards, commissions, public hearings, prepare a plan, which is updated annually, prepare application materials for committees, individuals, organizations, et cetera, to apply for funds. They need to make decisions about which projects they determine should be approved and then they bring those recommendations back here to town meeting for final approval.

Next slide. Keep going. So the state regulations require certain size and representatives on the community preservation committee, five to nine members.

You can see up on the slide which committees must be represented and then as I alluded to, next year if this were to pass tonight and pass in November, then next year we would come back with a bylaw which would establish upon town meetings approval what the exact composition would be of the community preservation committee. Next slide. So there are four exemptions that can be provided under the Community Preservation Act.

You see them up on the screen. We recommend and the vast majority of communities that approve the CPA recommend the similar exemptions. The first one, most important to me, I will say, is that there is a very significant exemption for low income, under 60-year-old households and low to moderate income 60 and over headed households.

You see the numbers up on the screen. If you live in a household of individuals, owners under 60, and there is one person in that household, you are fully exempt if your income is below $83,000 a year. If there are four people in the household, you are fully exempt if your income is below $119,000 a year.

You can see if you are 60 or over, the numbers are even higher, $104,000. If you are a single individual, $149,000 in income, less than that, you are exempt. It goes up by each individual that is in the household.

It goes all the way up to eight people. The numbers get even higher, but I have selected two examples here. So that is one exemption that we are recommending.

The other two examples are the bottom two, and this would basically exempt the first $100,000 of assessed value on each and every residential property and each and every commercial and industrial property. Again, these are very similar exemptions to the vast majority of communities that adopt the CPA. Next slide.

So hopefully you can see this. As I have mentioned, and it is in your warrant, what we are recommending is a surcharge of 1.5%. What you see on the screen are varying levels of property values, the associated property tax that people are paying today, and then what the surcharge would be with including that $100,000 residential property value exemption. So what I quoted earlier was that on the 1.5% row, at the median single family home value of $750,000, that household would have a surcharge of $110. The average condo here in Swampscott is about $400,000, and so they would have a surcharge somewhere between the $300,000 and $500,000, about $50 per year. This, as you will see on the far right under CPA revenue, including all exemptions, would raise approximately $732,000 each year from the surcharge. This would be coupled with the state share.

Next slide, please. This shows you over the last 10 years or so what the state share has been. It varies depending on the number of transactions, the amount that goes into this fund from deed transactions.

You can see that it varies between 20% and 40% over the last 10 years. There's no guarantee exactly what it will be each year, but the way I think about this and the way I think people that support a lot of these initiatives across the state think about this as basically a guaranteed, we don't know exactly the number, roughly a guarantee of a 20% or 40% return on our collective investment. This, I recognize, is probably difficult to read.

Hopefully, you can make out down the left, these are a number of different projects that are already widely talked about, widely anticipated, hoped for, planned for here in Swampscott. The Hawthorne site, General Glover, Vinnon Square, Swampscott Pier, Fish House, public housing improvements, the train depot, Phillips Park improvements, town hall improvements, lawn, Abbott Park, rail trail, Bly's Wood Estate, seawalls, etc. What we've attempted to do here and as a draft, emphasis on draft because there are very particular rules about what qualifies and what doesn't qualify.

But as you can see, in each of these different categories, there are a number of projects that I would suggest are extremely likely to come before this body in the coming years, primarily probably through capital items, maybe through the operating budget, that will require the disbursement of funds. What this mechanism, CPA, allows is for us to get state support for those investments. As it stands right now, we will foot the bill for all of this ourselves.

If there's an opportunity between 20% and 40% to obtain state funds for these projects, that's what this program will enable. Next slide. Lastly, I think quickly, our neighbors, our friends next door in Nahaunt have been in this program for 20 years.

They funded over 100 different projects, raised $3.7 million through the surcharge, received $2.8 million from state funds, and interestingly have further leveraged that into other state funds, other nonprofit funds, other investments for a total investment of almost $14 million. And you can see the litany of different types of projects that they've been able to fund. Hopefully, they look quite familiar to those that we might want to do here in Swampscott.

Just lastly, just as a recap in terms of the smart financial investments we've made over time, as I think the chair of our finance committee has indicated earlier tonight, increasing our stabilization funds, improving our bond rating, this is yet another, I'd suggest, very smart financial tool for us to avail ourselves of. And with that, I'll just ask anyone that is here from various committees if they want to briefly say something on behalf of their committee or as a chair of their committee.

[Speaker 1] (2:41:03 - 2:41:31)
Thank you, Mr. Thomson. Let me first see if there is, in fact, questions or debate. Perhaps the individual is on.

You haven't done the motion. No, Ms. Hilario made the motion. There is a motion on the floor.

Is there a question or debate or commentary on Ms. Hilario's motion to adopt, to approve Article 12 as set forth in the warrant? I see one in the back. Is that?

[Speaker 15] (2:41:32 - 2:41:45)
Hillary Foust, town meeting member, Precinct 6. Could you please clarify, are you asking everybody to pay an additional 1.5% in taxes? You're not taking this out of our already assessed taxes?

[Speaker 3] (2:41:46 - 2:41:52)
Correct. This is an additional surcharge of about $100 on the median single-family home. That's correct.

[Speaker 1] (2:41:53 - 2:42:00)
That's 1.5% less the $100,000 exclusion, not counting low- and moderate-income households, as recommended.

[Speaker 15] (2:42:01 - 2:43:23)
I'm just trying to digest this after we just got through last year, our town spending $7 to $8 million on land. You guys still haven't figured out what you want to do with it yet. We have schools sitting here trying to get money to keep our kids with the resources that they need.

I'm publicly saying that I do have a problem with this. I don't expect to speak for the whole room, but I don't know. I just feel like we're trying to find places to spend money when we have so many places in our budget for our first responders, our schools, and some other basic needs and things that our town doesn't even have that we just keep talking about open space and sidewalks and shorter distances between crosswalks.

I don't know. I think we need a better understanding of how this really benefits everybody. We have bike lanes everywhere, and I never even see anybody in them.

So I'm not saying that people don't use them, but the amount that we have and the amount of money and time and space this is taking, I don't know, just keeps adding to my questions about what we're doing here. But I just wanted to speak up for the record that this is an additional tax on our property and homeowners, and it's not coming out of something that we already have, correct?

[Speaker 3] (2:43:23 - 2:44:16)
That's correct, and I would, if I may. Certainly, Mr. Thompson. Yes, thank you, Mr. Moderator. I would also encourage us to also think about it as a way, again, that there are going to be expenditures. It certainly isn't solely for bike lanes. This is affordable housing.

This is historic preservation. This is open space and recreation. And there are a number of projects, as we indicated, that are already in this realm and expected.

What are we going to do with the Hawthorne? This could be used, these funds could be used actually for addressing the financial needs there, for example. And most importantly, instead of us, just our $7 million, we would be spending 20 to 40 percent of state-received money instead of solely.

[Speaker 15] (2:44:16 - 2:44:33)
Now, I understand there's a matching program. What I don't understand is if my kid came to me and asked for $1,000 but didn't really have a reason how, where, or why she wanted to use that, I wouldn't say here's your $1,000, and next year let's talk about what we're going to do with that money. And I just feel like that's sort of been what's been going on with this tax.

[Speaker 1] (2:44:33 - 2:44:46)
Let us please keep the conversation to the CPA itself and not what may have happened in a prior meeting. I'll take Mr. Bierman, then Mr. Lorber. I see one in the back there.

And Mr. Driscoll.

[Speaker 19] (2:44:47 - 2:45:55)
Jack Bierman, town meeting member, Precinct 6. Not adopting this is the definition of penny-wise and pound-foolish. Basically, this is the list of projects that this money may go towards is something we're going to do anyway.

We're going to pay for this, whether we like it or not, many of these things. So the question is, do we get the rest of the people of the Commonwealth to contribute to it, or do we do it all on our own? And this is just a sensible thing.

That's why so many of the communities across the state have adopted this. I think it's long past the time when we should have done it already. And I think it's overall going to be a wise investment.

And this is maybe a secret, but we're a relatively low-tax community, even in Essex County, so we can certainly afford to add 1.5 percent to the tax bills of real estate values above the thresholds that are in the article. So I support this, and I hope everybody else will also.

[Speaker 34] (2:45:55 - 2:45:56)
Thank you, Mr. Bierman.

[Speaker 17] (2:46:00 - 2:46:45)
Mr. Lorber. Hello. Terry Lorber, Precinct 5, Mooring 127.

First, I acknowledge the land of the Nomkeag group of the Massachusetts tribe and this place called Mesquamskit. A couple of questions to clarify. A yes vote will merely place this on a ballot for a town-wide vote this November.

That is correct. And then a second question. Did this body just not approve a permanent 1.5 percent tax cut by raising the tax levy?

At the previous amended budget by $482,000 per year? I would have to defer.

[Speaker 34] (2:46:45 - 2:46:46)
Excuse me. I'm sorry.

[Speaker 17] (2:46:46 - 2:46:58)
I apologize. Did this body just not approve a permanent tax increase of $420,000 per year at the equivalent of about $100 per median home value?

[Speaker 1] (2:46:58 - 2:47:07)
I would have to defer to the town financial office on the exact per dollar based on the median assessed value. But in essence, you are correct.

[Speaker 17] (2:47:07 - 2:47:38)
So this body just now voted to approve a tax increase affecting median home values of about $100 per year in perpetuity. Correct. And likewise, with that value going into a line item budget for the school, we actually don't have much say over where that money goes either.

Or even less than what's being proposed here. So thank you for your work in putting together this proposal, and I hope it passes. Thank you, Mr. Lorber. Is that Ms. McDermott in the back?

[Speaker 1] (2:47:41 - 2:47:45)
It's harder and harder to see all the way back, the older and older I get.

[Speaker 24] (2:47:51 - 2:48:42)
Hi. I'm Marianne McDermott, Precinct 6, and I also rise to support the CPA. To respond to Ms. Fouts, this is like a savings account. When your kid comes to you and says, I'm going to want a car in five years, you say, put some money away now. The CPA is an amazing, amazing thing. We're giving ourselves a gift.

We're getting the state to match funds. We saw that NAHANT leveraged additional money to match funds. It's like somebody put money on the table, and we said we're going to pass.

So we should all vote for this. It's only going to go on the ballot in the fall. We should then jointly campaign to pass this and make it happen so we can try and catch up with NAHANT in 20 years.

[Speaker 1] (2:48:42 - 2:49:39)
Thank you, Ms. McDermott. Mr. Driscoll? Mr. Driscoll is moving to call the question and end debate on Ms. Alario's motion. Is there a second? Second. All those in favor of ending debate on this motion?

All those opposed? The motion carries. We move now directly to a vote on Ms. Alario's original motion to approve Article 12 as set forth in the printed warrant. All those in favor? All those opposed? The motion carries.

We dispense with Article 13 already adopted through the consent agenda and come now to Article 14, Recommended Capital Projects for Fiscal Year 24, that is, the current fiscal year. Mr. Schneider?

[Speaker 12] (2:49:49 - 2:50:43)
Eric Schneider, Town Meeting Member, Precinct 5, member of the Finance Committee. The Finance Committee recommends the Town vote to appropriate $375,000 for the purpose and in the amount identified in Article 14 of the printed warrant, as shown under the column heading, Finance Committee Recommended, in said Article 14. And to meet this appropriation, the Treasurer, with the approval of the Select Board, is authorized to borrow said amount under General Law, Chapter 44, Section 7 or 8, or any other enabling authority, to pay costs of said capital project, including, as applicable, equipping of capital items to be acquired and all incidental and related costs, each numbered item to be considered as separate appropriation, with the budgeted amount to be spent only for the stated purpose.

I move the recommendation of the Finance Committee.

[Speaker 1] (2:50:43 - 2:50:57)
Is there a second? Mr. Schneider, before I recognize you to speak, Mr. Hale, Chair of the Capital Improvements Committee, the Capital Improvements Committee has met and considered. Would you mind telling us the outcome of those votes?

[Speaker 32] (2:50:59 - 2:51:20)
Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm Ryan Hale. I'm the Chair of the Capital Improvement Committee and a member of the Renewable Energy Committee in Precinct 2.

Yes, the CSE has met regularly and publicly to review the capital projects that were put forth and has voted to adopt the ones that are shown on the table in the warrant. Thank you, Mr. Hale. Mr. Schneider.

[Speaker 12] (2:51:23 - 2:52:45)
So Article 14 is not quite our usual capital article, so I'm going to talk a little about the process that's going to come up also for Article 15, and so I'm not going to repeat myself then. So the Finance Committee had several meetings with the Capital Improvements Committee to go over the capital requests for the year, and we also met and discussed with the department heads of the requesting departments to understand the scope, the timing, and the funding sources for each of the capital projects that were recommended by the Capital Improvements Committee. And we reviewed the debt service schedule and the impact of the projects on the debt service.

The two projects in Article 14 were originally on the capital plan for fiscal year 2025, but with this warrant they're being included in the capital plan for 2024. This is driven by the timing of the work to be done over the summer. So by including them now, we don't have to wait until July 1st to go out to bid and get quotes to do this work.

So if they're approved now, we can go out for quotes after town meeting, hopefully get the work done over the summer. That was a request by Max Casper, who's our Facilities Director.

[Speaker 1] (2:52:47 - 2:53:15)
Thank you, Mr. Schneider. As with the budget, this article functions as a consent agenda. You are, in fact, voting on the two line items shown individually, but we will discuss them together and take a single vote.

Are there questions, comments, debate on Mr. Schneider's motion? I see. There you go.

Ma'am, I'm sorry. You are sitting in one of the dark spots.

[Speaker 30] (2:53:20 - 2:53:49)
Good evening, Martha Danz, Dilltown Meeting Member, Precinct 4. I believe that the selectmen voted to allocate some of the ARPA money for pedestrian safety, $500,000. I'm wondering, is this in addition to that?

Or why are there two line items? Well, this isn't really a line item, but two pedestrian safety and traffic improvement areas.

[Speaker 1] (2:53:50 - 2:54:09)
So if I understand your question correctly, and I will clarify the yes, this is a separate authorization to borrow to be funded by debt service in the operating budget in future years. Whatever may or may not have happened with the ARPA funds is under the purview of the select board. But perhaps the town administrator could discuss traffic safety.

[Speaker 23] (2:54:09 - 2:55:03)
Sure. These funds are for some of the improvements for our new elementary school, the $500,000 that we've appropriated in ARPA funds are part of a long list of projects that we've supported through Complete Streets. Infrastructure improvements are very expensive, and so these dollars don't go that far.

Almost every intersection that we have is defined by slip lanes. We have crosswalks that are too long and unsafe. And so we have a few dollars allocated this year, but we plan to be asking for pedestrian safety funds every year as part of our ongoing capital investments that we have to make.

Pedestrian safety is the single biggest concern that we have in terms of safety, and we want to continue to make investments as part of our annual capital improvements at town meeting.

[Speaker 1] (2:55:04 - 2:56:13)
Thank you, Mr. Town Administrator. Other questions, comments on Mr. Schneider's motion? All those in favor of Mr. Schneider's motion, I note this does take a two-thirds majority. All those in favor, please raise your hand. All those opposed? It is unanimous.

I note the hour and I note the length of Article 15. I'd like to take a sense of the meeting. We have remaining nine articles.

I know that we will not get through them this evening. We will be back here tomorrow evening. I will take a sense of the meeting.

All of those interested in beginning the debate on Article 15 tonight, please raise your hands. All of those interested in returning tomorrow evening to start Article 15, I think that sentiment is clear. I will entertain a motion to adjourn until 7 p.m. tomorrow evening. Second? All those in favor? All those opposed?

Thank you very much for your diligence. I will see you tomorrow evening. Same place.