Budget Committee - Regular Meeting

budget committee to order on Tuesday January 14th at 6: p.m. thank you all for coming our first our next order of business is do the Pledge of Allegiance if you could lead us please pledge of Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you okay so we have a quorum we're all set to go um Victor if you could sit in the I guess we'll call it the hot seat that's fine with me because you have the microphone and you'll be visible to anyone who's watching us on Zoom or Facebook or whatever it is we're doing uh our first order our first Department to review is the highway operations Department so that is section 4311 Highway operations so I'll make a motion to consider the highway operations budget in the select board recommended amount of $758,000 what was the number that you read I read 500 I'm sorry $758,000

for salary increase so yeah I think you had 750 and they went to 758 was there any do you want us to start asking questions or yeah I'd rather go you know because if you guys are going to jump it's easier to jump over than me to drag you out through anything okay so I'd rather just if you want to stop from the top of the lines or however you want to do it I don't I don't particularly if people have other questions speak up I didn't particularly want to start at the top and go line by line I guess the first couple of lines are Personnel I would just ask um my understanding is that with Mark retiring and you moving up and someone else moved up and someone else moved up how how are you doing Staffing wise are you are you full are you still I'm fully staffed at this point and I'm very pleased with crew is doing outstanding good so we're we're very happy with all the the moves the moves helped really with morale and that too so it worked out very very well for the entire department okay so generally what we do for the most part is we'll we go through and we look for places where there are big increases M so that I mean again it's not a huge amount of money but it's a big percentage increase line 142 for your on call compensation yes um that was approved by the selectman uh we've been sitting at 7 $5 per week on call for over 20 years uh all the other departments are running 125 a week and I would like to see that match the Selman agreed to to bring them up to match what the other on call compensations are which is 125 a week um but we only run uh total I think it's uh 14 weeks of V call out of the year so it's not a it's not a large

large but it does double what what it what it was it was 75 to1 25 okay and just for my benefit cuz I mean it's not I don't want to micromanage you but I like to understand this is this is something where you basically someone is designated as the on call person so if a road emergency happens the call goes to them and they respond first and when they show up they're on the clock and they get paid a regular wage but in order to have to carry around the phone and not enjoy their summer with a couple of beverages no it's not of that it's it's actually just a winter hours we run we we run that from November 15th to April 15th oh that's why I'm saying it's only like 13 or 16 some OD weeks okay uh that we run it at and you know with all the things that go on with that of course you know you limited you got to be less than 20 minutes away you can't go to conquer or anything like that so uh it's an inconvenience to them but they do very very well with it um I just wanted to see it matched with what the other on call guys were getting after all these years s usually took that in my um sounds reasonable to me thank you okay help me all right um again if anyone else has anything feel free to to speak up um I see that I mean you talked about it before but I see that you've instead of having a a line for equipment maintenance on every piece of equipment that we own we we bundle those together and put them into one maintenance line yes you're down at 660 now I believe it is I'm down yes right now so um that's uh the select board had gone to a new system that uh the police department

test piloted um and so basically what it's doing is consolid consolidating all those Vehicles down down to one line number for you guys to look at and just dealing with one line number figure uh we are still it's called a tag system it's based on license plate and all that uh we're still able to track each vehicle what we're playing but it doesn't restrict us to go God we can only you know stay with that one vehicle at this and one vehicle at that it took the conglomerate to saying this is the bulk this is where it's at and then if we don't use all the money on this one we still got you know we're just working with the kitty but we can at least track what we're spending on each vehicle but then go okay this is the best guess that we have on it so we are still just to let you know tracking each uh expenditure by vehicle in a different system so that we understand where we are with each vehicle so that so when it comes down to the CIP or it comes down to questions about getting rid of a vehicle we can tell you what we're spending on and that it's just not so inated to the budget where everyone's going why did you buy a new set of tires for that vehicle or or whatever you did no I like that I like the system better I think it gives you some more freedom and it it helps it yes put it all together I mean from a town point of view whether you're whether you're putting bearings on vehicle a or you're putting brake pads on vehicle B I don't care my discussions with uh uh Chief being was you know we don't lose any of the efficiency of seeing the historical data per vehicle that was the thing you but budgeting it really helps us to just go Hey listen let's just you know if you're looking a shave you know we'll have to really you know if we shaved out of that number we could go you know we just got to watch what we're doing you know U but we still have the ability to track each vehicle where we're going I think that was part of the idea Paul you just said just for us to we have a single line for maintenance because you don't know what you're going to get for any vehicle right that's

unexpected maintenance correct during the year so that you can you can predict preventive maintenance all day long it's corrective maintenance you can't correct so that was part of the idea that it would be one I think it makes sense but I think it also makes great sense what you said is you still have the ability to look at what's being spun on vehicle to make the decision you know is this now getting to the point where we're spending so much on maintenance we're right we're starting to be not cost efficient so you you still have the tools you need to make those types of determinations right so because if you look at our normal budget this is I've got a copy of it here from the end of 2024 and you look at the cost negatives on several of the vehicles that the older ones like the back on and things like that they're in cost negative that it's only coming out of that that funding we're sitting there going it comes out of my overall budget I the machine ask me up we have to repair it we have to be all to track it and we're not losing one thing is we're not losing the ability to track each piece of equipment great um a question on the the iteration of equipment that's under the maintenance line I understand that we we have a new large snow PL because I've seen it in my neighborhood I don't see it listed here does that mean that because it's new it won't it won't have any maintenance won't need oil changes or anything no that's inaccurate no there's still always maintenance and of course by the end of the season the outside two tires will have to be replaced from the chain wear but it isn't listed it it it's it's not up to date that is not accurate the new one will be Buzz the issue is that in in 24 we had a line for each piece of equipment now in for 25 we're zeroing those out and putting them all into six so so he never created a line for the truck because because it wasn't in last year's budget why would you create a line there it's actually two vehicles

we've got a the 550 came in and the the international came in both of those never had lines created for them so but I just want to point out us the reason is because if if we hadn't changed the system you would have created new we would have go on to this new system you don't need but they are created in the in the the tracking system so those numbers do exist it's just one total number to you well that was going to be my next question that I assumed it was delivered in 2024 so but you just didn't ass but we we created the budget in 23 for 24 and then the vehicle got delivered in 24 right so they didn't exist is somebody taking notes for Christina yes so she might want to make a note to add that to that line before we finalize to add it's already added it's in the it's in the other system Carol tax system no I understand that but put those two items into this explanation oh nobody has before we finalize the just that it includes all new equipment right something of that thank you thank you so the only other the um the only other two lines I see that kind of stick out I mean disability insurance and line 21 I'm going to guess you have absolutely no control over I do not kind of thought so I thought there was one more what so line um 631 sidewalks 63 yeah we budgeted 4,000 in the in the 2024 budget and you're asking for 10,000 in the 2025 budget 631 hang on let me just find I get that right yeah 631 is just so is that you know things got more expensive are we doing something additional to what we've done

in past years or why why is that such a big so State your question again please so line 631 yeah in the in the 24 budget last year's budget we allocated $44,000 yep and I know that that spending year to dat does not finalize it can change but right now it's showing you know we haven't even spent half of it and now you're asking for 10,000 um I was holding that number um so I'm looking why was that I'm looking at 4,000 oh so uh so the 2024 budget was asked because Mark was looking to do um Summer Street and um with the with the Reconstruction of the square and the state did not did not comply with us we weren't allowed to do what we wanted to do so we did not we were not able to do sum Street um the money was used 6,000 of it came out of 631 to cover the cost overage on projects I thought we were just asking for 4,000 on that for I thought we were just asking for so this so this is this is not this is not like the machine that plows the sidewalks no this is for sidewalk just is constructing or building or repairing or maintaining or dealing with with rush so okay one of one of the other issues and we're you I'm unclear on giving them a full stated answer to because we we have to look into it um and we we know we have fil so we had a dig down on in the Square where the concrete is falling apart so that's concrete down there not a flexible payment we had to replace it with asphalt two of the tip Downs down

where you're going over to from the the square area to Shack it's to the hotel area is all disintegrated the salt is doing a number to it there's several portions along that line that are falling apart and then over by Dead River it's heaved up to where we had to Jackhammer that out put it in we did not I did not get in time for this budget the cost of replac if we go back to concrete or whether the select board makes the decision that when we do remove it we're just going to continue with asphalt with those unknowns I could not come up with a number so under my direction from the select board and the TA was Pat in replace right now to get us through the winter and let's not worry about 2025 let's look at 2026 as if we're going to go for a major repair there so I didn't know what money to play with so I left it at that in case we got numbers in and the select board could say hey well can we do a partial repair or not a partial repair I could say this is what we have to play with it's just a best guest number right what I'm hear so if you're if you're willing to if you want to cut money out of that or whatever I'm willing to work with you I just want something there to play with in case the select board and the Town Administrator myself go hey we got a number is it feasible to do some repairs and no repairs or do we just go with a patch um so it was just a number to work with so that the select board's got a number to work with where we're not looking at outside funding from anywhere else to work on those sidewalks Goa what I'm hear what I think I'm hearing you say is that there's still some policy questions that need to be discussed at the select board level to decide what we want to be doing Carol do you have any no that's all to add to that that's all accurate but it seems like we probably I think we were putting that decision off till we saw how things were in the in the early here so um that was

it so when when we get to the major projects items you'll see why they're sitting there going can we just hold off on the sidewalks okay um yeah and and and in rightly so and I think the select board has every reason to sit there and go if that's something that we can hold on let's hold on it so I just left the number there and if it's something where if if if we're looking to take five grand out of something let's take five grand out of there and the select board and I can work with whatever is is is left there as a either a temporary fix or a non-f fix the bigger project items are are really what I think is the discussion tonight and but that's not 4311 that's the 4324 or whatever it is all right we have another another something else to to do what do you think Walter or anyone else have an opinion do we do we just leave this where it is or do we want to consider making a cut I I'd like to consider making a cut you'd like to sure yeah me too you want to make a motion I'll make a motion second yeah let's see what the motion uh I do I make a motion to um for line uh 631 to be uh 5,000 less than the 10,000 so to make it for $5,000 like he had suggested okay you still want to second that I do so we have a motion from Sue seconded by Buzz to amend line 631 of section 4311 from the current amount of $10,000 to a new amount of $5,000 um do we need do you want to discuss or do we just go have go ahead and have a vote at this point I would just say be aware of this if in the middle of the summer we patch the sidewalks and people aren't happy with how good they look or how they are that's you know how that goes the site marks aren't really good and we patch it and do what we have have to do that we

have to all have to be aware that we made that decision I can live with it I Hear What I Hear what you're I'm just it's I'm not arguing I'm just saying remember that's how this goes that's a pretty important area right so um so I'm just sitting in the seat now as a superintendent so I I would say I would take the bloody nose from the public on patches and go I would rather as superintendent say I want to fix from point A to point B fully comparably new and put more patches in there and when it gets to a degraded position we sit there and go okay from point A to point B we're going to we're going to budget and put it as a special projects item instead of out of a sidewalk repair line I try to view this line as a sidewalk repair line where we've had Damage Done due to plowing or Damage Done to that and I'd rather keep that number in a more workable number for the committee as a repair line instead of a project line I would rather appro approach Full Repair as a project I was going to say I so I'm thinking I'm liking you more and more because I'm thinking exactly the same way I'm more will I'm more willing to support spending money on a project to do sidewalks correctly when we're doing temporary patches I'd like to do them as cheaply as possible because eventually we're going to go back and rebuild so the what I'm trying to carry forward as as a superintendent is we we are going to let things go to a point where major repair has to be made instead of major repair over bad repair so and I'm not saying that was the old policy in any way shape or form I'm just saying we decided that the the square project was going to be a concrete 99% of our sidewalks are asphalt they're very easily repaired and patched concrete is not um and I think we have to view the

square that way that if we're going to to repair something down there it will be a temporary repair which may be 2 3 years and then a full repair okay as a project anyone else want to make a comment or that's a pretty important area there's a lot of traffic there it's a $5,000 savings really worth it in that area so Walter I $5,000 would is not going to repair those concrete sidewalks all you're doing is give me a buffer to do more repairs and put more patches all over the place you're not giving me enough to repair from point A to point B and that's why I say that would have to go into a project line and there's not enough damage down there right now to do a project line I'm okay so why don't I don't think we need to do a roll call let's just try to do a by acclamation all in favor I I that's not me that's okay so that's all that's all six of us so Nays and abs are zero that passes 60 um I think that was it for lines that I was going to ask about does anyone else have anything else that they would like to uh ask Victor or to propose any changes so having said that I'll take back so just so I'm looking at line 681 Victor 681 yeah catch catch culverts it says it says this line should include driveway CTS Victor will provide more detail at the meeting you more detail yeah I do um

so um again this might be just a new way of doing things at the highway department um under under myself being the superintendent we never kept on hand stock we uh we kind of responded to things more as uh the squeaky wheel gets the oil okay um but one of the things that the select board requested out of me was to start a little forecast things that are going on uh so on average I I broke out the 10 years that I've been here and on average you know we're replacing uh our policy in the town is if a driveway cul goes bad um the after the homeowners put it in the town replaces it so on average we're doing about six to seven a year and that's got nothing to do with my road Crossings so that's a 20 foot length of pipe and so there's six of them you know at that point so I don't ever stock that we we've never stocked that in the yard on on average we we were reactionary and I'm going well if we're doing 60e we've got a known number here and again that's got nothing to do with Crossings of roads in other words a culvert that crosses the road is now at an angle so it's not 20 ft across and it's going to be 30 to 40 ft depending on the road this this is like the covers at along the side of the road at the end of someone's driveway yep we replace end of driveway culs um again that is Town policy not my policy it's Town policy so we replace on average about six a year and I don't we don't normally stock that and it becomes a feast or famine thing so I said well we have a culvert line catch facing a culvert line and we

rebuild at least two box facings a year okay so I came up with a list of what it would take to do that on average every year and I applied it to that line which comes to and I have it broken out here $ 4,952 so I asked for Life call it $5,000 $5,000 is what I asked for because on average I'm we are robbing Peter to pay Paul throughout the entire budget to cover this every year anyway and that is before an emergency fi cross cover that goes across the road so this is a kitty that I can almost guarantee you we get expended every year that now I'm not robbing $500 here $500 $500 air to cover the cost so I budgeted the line to be appropriate and I've got the numbers if if you wanted to see or whatever well you describe and that's enough that's enough for me so that's how that number came up for that line okay so it's less than $1,000 a repair well if you're asking yeah a little bit less than $1,000 per repair you we don't we don't calculate man hours or equipment time but it's just you know raw stock that we have to purchase okay so that's where I came up with that number so what I'm what I'm hearing you say is it's money we've been spending we just didn't make it visible in the budget we kind had it kind of hidden in there and this Falls it out and shows it where everyone can see it exactly and and so I'm a big believer in just you know so let's say I have a very bad year with this and and I go into cost overun what I want to see is that negative at on that line in the budget to go Hey listen you know we and I I can break it down to you and say this is these are the covers we did and this is where we did them and we thought we best guess six and we did nine you know and

you know and but worry about seven8 n where I got to rob Peter to pay Paul to do it you know but it bring but it makes it visible and then it becomes a discussion on policy do we want to continue to do this and spend this money right because it's more than we expected because it's exactly yeah okay so that's how I came up with that number makes sense to me I don't know if I can say it but that was one one of the culs at our house that you had to fix so it came it was like a God said showed up because we had all that flooding coming down on PE Hill so it was really so you're saying thank you thank you absolutely yeah absolutely it it just was really good because it destroyed everything the covert had been there for like 30 years right and then it just we have a lot of like that around town that just are barely getting by and and I can guarantee you six a year are probably going to get done yeah most of them are in our right away probably yes yeah yeah if they're outside the right away I we we do not touch that's that's the reason right yeah all right any other comments or desires to do anything or are we ready to call a Sal go up that much no actually salt went down this year at this point uh it only went down by about uh by $3 a ton so it's not that big of a number and I'm just leaving I'm requesting to leave the salt number where it is because you know I just have no idea I'd like to go I never did the purchasing I mean I would purchase it for Mark when he would direct me to but I didn't track the number um I would like to ask that we leave the number where it is so I can ride another year out where I'm actually controlling the purse strings on that and and see where we lay in uh we've had

a very difficult year this year or the end of 202 2024 budget where we've been out uh 13 times and on average between Thanksgiving and that we only go out about six but it's been more ice than snow this year so My salt increase at the end of 2024 was much higher than it was the previous year so I would like to just build my Matrix if if you want to if you want to finagle some of the money out of there let's talk about it I'm willing to work with you but I was looking for another year just just just for completeness I want to make sure everyone realizes we're talking about line 693 which is salt which in the last year's budget was 39,000 and this year's proposed budget is 49 but if you go back 3 years ago it was 51 two years ago it was 40 last year it was 39 almost 40 so you're taking it back up to 49 right then what I hear you say I'm holding at 49 2024 was 4920 I held it says 39 doesn't our budget it says 392 and it says you're going up $ at this point that we're already at halfway through January and again I only have to look at uh Thanksgiving I hear I hear what you're saying and I appreciate you're trying to be helpful I would actually not want to take it all the way back to 39 you said you're a new superintendent you're learning it's been a tough start to the year maybe split the difference and go to instead of taking a 10,000 increase go to a 5,000 increase I'm willing to work with you I

think it's playable and workable I think for the difference I'll withdraw my question because they do a good job and like you said this is his first year let's be his Cooperative as we can no so no let's work this I I honestly believe that let's let's let's come to a compromise here I'm willing to work with you if you want to take 5,000 out of there I think it is doable do I I you know I will Monitor and do my job and do that I was just looking for a little more fluff if you want to take some of the fluff away let's take some of the fluff away you know I have no problem with that that number is there for all of us to work with um I'm trying to justify you why I asked for what I did and again I asked for this in October and I wasn't even in the seat yet okay so a lot has changed since I think you were actually required to to put this request in by the end of September so right so I've learned a lot since September to okay so I'm willing to work with you I put it in a number where I thought I would have to come in here and kind of work with you people on this what did um how much did you say it was price had changed so it actually come down by by $3 just come down in the 20 in the 24 budget it says we we approved 39,200 the request for 25 is 49,28334 um sorry I'll make a motion to amend line 693 of section 43 4311 which is

salt and Highway operation from the current amount of 49,27808 second so a motion from Paul seconded by Joe to reduce that number by 5,000 and I don't really need to I think we've talked about it enough already uh I'll call a vote all in favor I I we get six eyes so Nays and extensions are zero that passes unanimously all right now can we move the adjusted bottom line move the adjusted bottom line everyone right everyone anyone else have another line or a question or anything okay so now we're going to vote on approving the amended bottom line budget for the highway department so section 4311 for the new amended amount of $748,000 we did $55,000 Cuts so yep okay ready to go to the next section which you said is going to be interesting so we're going to now I'll make a motion to consider the highway projects Department budget which is section 4312 in the select board recommended amount of $3

35,1 second second seconded by motion by Paul seconded by Joe so I see we have I guess four lines in here you want to you said this would be an interesting discussion you want yeah I got to look at the new one my notes are so bad on that one but I know where I'm going CU I've got it all in files so let me just go to the new one okay Highway project it looks it looks like you've already you're the amount that's in the budget now the select board recommended is less than what you originally asked for so they've already given you a haircut they have so we're looking at can I just reiterate the numbers so sure go ahead we're looking at 335 z01.00 for total correct yeah okay so the numbers are are drainage projects for 12,000 Sur Ro resurfacing for 300,000 chip seal placeholder of one and guard rail projects 23,000 yes those are all correct numbers okay um so what do you want to talk about first however you want to talk about them so I think the big qu I guess the question I would ask and I don't even know if this is really so much a budgeting thing but we we've talked about on Road repair what we call it Road resurfacing roads yes that that in the past under the previous superintendent we had I don't know 10 year let's go and put a new top layer on every road yes and one of the things that I heard from sitting through a select board meeting and then I think

might have also heard you chime in that there's maybe AIT a more effective long-term strategy to do not just throwing a top again I but but so is is this is this is this the new the new plan is this continuation of the old plan no no it's so so let's just say so this is not uh saying Mark did anything wrong over he did right so the point of is is Mark expanded the SP of all our roads out to the max extent that he could with the Subterranean being the way it was and we have right near the end of his tenure there we are getting roads to the point where the under drainage is is is no longer in the position where we can go over the top of it again okay it happens to coincide with his retirement and this kind of the same time that I'm walking into it so there are roads that we have identified with failed drainage uh chest nut Street being the worst at this point Beach Street we had lost the center of the road and that we had to do something uh Chestnut Street is uh now in that same predicament where we're losing the side of the road and it's it's going right up the road so under the request when when I jumped into the seat the select board looked at me and said you know we want to see a twofold plan when we're looking at Road reconstruction that we are looking at the Subterranean as long as we're looking when we're looking at the tops top coat so we have to deal with other things too on there we have to deal with uh not only my drainage underneath there but we have to deal with water and sewer underneath there in the village district and and when they have repairs and and things like that so it all we're trying to put it all together to make it all speak as one now so that when we're looking at doing a

road or taking on a road for a repair that the repairs are done beneath the surface before the top of the surface so we have uh several failed areas and a couple areas that we put in deferred maintenance just that because we think we can prolong them along the problem was when we came out of that package that Mark was operating under we had top coated Bristol Hill and we had top coated Smith River Road with the intention of and we had put the base coats down but never put the top coat on so we spent a lot of money on those two roads but we did not finish him and then his last year here he struck to move and went for upper Birch and reclaim them because they needed to be reclaimed yeah we had a horrible War situation so he we had to deal with the flood and all that so he was trying to put it all together in his last chair and try to cover everything and and I think he did an incredible job with that he we made the right calls as as uh Department talking to the select board the selectboard made the right calls but it still puts us in a categ is what do we do with those two roads that we invested all that money into so I had put forth the first package to the select board was to top coat those two roads that we had originally done it comes to $360 some odd, y um the select board thought that number was a little too high okay they wanted to go into this year and I think they bounced around the number of they were not willing to go higher than 300,000 was the number I was given so with that concept I said well if of the two roads if there's a musthave we must put a top coat on Bristol Hill we've invested a lot of money into that and it's the new binder that's already down is already starting to scale with two years now going on a third year of winter so

that's 171 20 uh 2000 171 288 right for a rough number they were willing to do more they kind of gave me the number like they were shooting for for they were willing to go to about 300,000 so what I did do was there are always things that we'd like to do to really improve work for the highway department so that things are easier and roads are maintained um without going into roads that need under drainage work on it I put down for um Harriet and for ear and John L which are three dirt roads up on Hall Road that when we originally took them over should have been paid within two or three years of us taking over and never been paved and they they draw a lot out of us all our dirt roads draw a lot out of us for maintenance if we were to pave those roads we could take a lot of Maintenance out of the summertime work up on those areas so I had those bid out and they came out to 24,000 for hairhead 24,000 128 and for the John L and uh erest roads uh 86600 which puts us sitting right around uh $2,082 and uh 282,000 okay with that forecast now we can look at 2026 in a long range forecast and go we'll finally top coat and the reason I chose Smith River is because it's a fairly level Road there's not a high volume of of runoff on it like the vertical slope on Bristol hill we could

probably squeak it another year and it's not scaling or shedding any of the the top coat or the base coat that's been put down so if we use that as a primary number in 2026 and then go for some other repairs and whatever we can blend those numbers so that's how I came up with the number of 300,000 for pav and the reason I chose Ernest John L and Harriet is the substructure up on those roads is all RCP reinforc concrete drainage so they've all been inspected there's no major work that we have to do GMI is going to do the the quick gravel bring it up to to pitch and grade with a with a crown and then pave it so I taking I'm giving the town the bang for the buck for what we can do for what the select board was requesting out of us do you have a longer term plan for the roads that you do have drainage issues yes so one of the tasks from the select board this year was and I'm working with that with the and I've already started to build it is the forecast of where we're at with each road with an detail inspection and start to forecast out a 10-year plan of subterranean with top coat so in other words uh we realized the Beach Street if if we were to break it the Beach Street project would be a contracted project but when you look at Chestnut Street our goal is on for the highway department itself is to repair the drainage on Chestnut Street all the way up to the fire hydr before Ellen Lane the problem is the corner Ellen Lane is collapsing so we may have to do that repair and that's where we come into back to that Culver issue is there's a cross C going across the road that's not in the budget for this year but it's collapsing right now that I'll have to go so when you go down to projects uh We've also added a new line for drainage product and we'll get into that is uh we had a a failure on Four Street and then it got

exasperated by a water line break this fall and has now erupted that problem to make it even worse and that's in this $122,000 package that's coming up so but yes the answer to your question is um between the town administr myself and we're looking to get one selectman on it when I get some more information to sit more of uh like a internal committee to go hey where are we looking at and break the town out to the districts and go you know what can we do in this District this District this district and forecast it out into a 10-year program you what's involved in Subterranean Rehabilitation so it it's it's threefold okay it it it relies on information from the water and sewer department and then it relies on my information for for drainage so when you look at drainage we have a lot of complex problems whereas when we're in the downtown district we have state drainage running through the C sometimes into our drainage and the two entities don't agree in other words the state goes well we're not doing anything about it or then we got to say the only way we can do it is to let it fail or the town makes the decision to spend the money and then get the state to approve us to do it second fold is went so once you leave that and you get into onto our streets itself is if Jeff has water and sewer in there and then I have Subterranean drainage like when we take on the beach Street issue that we had this year where we were we've lost we had lost the right hand side of the road was collapsing it happened to be where the fire the two buildings bur down so we kind of all work together with that land owner cuz we were on in the right away of them we were able to repair that line fix it but the bigger problem down the road is is is something that you would say once the public safety buildings calm down and there's no new fire Tru or something we go look we're

looking for a million5 to go from the river all the way up to The Meadows it's a 3-ft culvert and it's going to be a super project that we would have to fund that would be something outside of my realm other than the engineering with our state our Our Town engineer that project is coming no different than we can forecast it St forth Brook the CT there orbridge is forecasted Class 2 e red it's going to get replaced um and those are the things that this the Town Administrator myself are trying to now put into a forecast range so we say hey look this is coming you know we have to do something and we're excuse me I've had a dry cough for two months um we are trying to forecast that out to go listen somewhere around 20 28 2029 Beach Street from the river all the way to The Meadows is either going to be done in two phase or one phase and and that's where we'd be approaching you guys and we be excuse me and that's where you know with the town engineer would be looking for Grants federal grants and state grants for that so but just assuming that there's that you're on a stretch road that has no utilities or or um drainage what is what is the difference between just putting another top coat on or or rehabilitating the so Chestnut Street is going to go next year was scheduled for this year we went into cost overruns we've got the C we're going to replace the Culver line all the way up that road okay that means we're going to have to come two or 3 feet in that means for two to three years that road because I will not be able to make the turn onto Len Lane on this budget and take it all the way up Ellen Lane so why would I repair from Chestnut Street to Ellen lane and then pave it brand new when I'm going to tear up

Ellen Lane so this year this phase of it we're going to replace from Chesnut Street up to the fire hydrant up uh by uh I can't think of the house number anyways it's all the right hand side you will deal with that Pat for two to three years then we will budget for Ellen Lane to because we've done partials on Ellen Lane we'll fix that and then we'll go okay this is now when we we start talking about top coat again we're going to go okay so Virginia Lane Ellen Lane and chest Street will be paav top coat in that this year because all the Subterranean is complete and we can do four Street and possibly timberling if we've now put the Matrix together to start making these repairs underneath so I think just so the issue on J she's right in front of my house so I can kind of speak to that one so it's not so much like if you there's literally a sinkhole in the street they they keep filling it every few months but it just keeps sinking and sinking and sinking and it's I'm guessing because the drainage underneath the asphalt is not it's gone it's not functioning the way it's supposed to anymore so I just wanted to clarify when you when you say Culver is that that's in my so would I be correct in saying that's the pipe that's connecting the storm grains that's taking the storm water away when we get rain okay so there's a cul there's a driveway cul and then there's underneath drainage cul that we run with one goes from when you say a culvert I'm thinking like so I'm I often walk on North Main Street so there's a ditch on one side of the road and then there's a pipe under the road I think of that as a c then on the other side you can see the water running down the hill towards Lake Street but in this case this is the pipe that's connecting the the cat catch basins that eventually get the water down I think it eventually all goes down the river somehow yeah one way or another it gets it so is it safe

to say Victor what what he's saying is if there is a Subterranean problem we would need to fix that before well we're doing this process is now iding all that and working those issues prior to the to of based on his question you know I saying we just go do the Subterranean always it's only if we think there's a problem and I think I think Mark took us in in Great Strides to why terer Road when there was no necessary but now we've got to the point where we have to look there's no no choice we have to look at the Subterranean and I I honestly feel like that might not be a bad idea to do any like my sewer line when we were replaced it was still clay pipe yeah so I'm assuming the part portion of the towns that's still underneath the street is probably still playay pipe in in certain areas so it's probably good for the water department to have an opportunity to get at that stuff and replace any c so that's how I came up when we're talking about Paving because that's where we started on this right and we kind of got into to three into uh 360 but is U those are the roads that I scheduled for Paving is to to go Bristol and then go for the the three dirt roads to get them up to a position where they're not so much maintenance to us and that's how I came up with 300,000 and those are bided quotes out of GMI under the contract that we have with them I'll just make my comment to try to wrap this thing up is that all you've said makes sense to me and I appreciate it it sounds like you're working hard with the select board to to to get this right and keep the town in good shape I'm I'm always I shouldn't say always that's not but I'm hesitant to cut things like this because I don't believe that when we cut things in this budget we really avoid costs we just delay them I think I think unless there's a crisis this type of stuff is a good

investment in the town and so I'm ready to approve it but I I will allow somebody else to speak up if they want to say something I regret ever mentioning the S I'm I'm so I'm so happy with the highway department Walter I really appreciate that and and uh and I really I was just asking the question I had no intention of causing that that's okay all right so that was a Paving line did you want to talk about drainage or I kind of covered that all I thought you already covered drainage at least for me you did the only other thing that got added and I don't know whether you've noticed or not see guard rails guard rail is um there's a couple of sections around town that I'm starting to forecast that out too that um have just dilapitated to the point uh this happens to be if you've ever been along Crescent Street um and then along Green Street the cop uh the guard there that is against a very steep incline that we are just not have the capability of replacing that has to be done by a contractor and they're at the point where their the fail safe is is not good okay uh so I got a quote on that from uh CW fence and it comes to about 23 23,000 to have them come in next year and do that guard yeah I understand from the note you're saying if you did the two projects separately it'd be 27 but by combining them you got a volume discount to get it to 20 right cuz they work on a linear footage if they don't have enough linear footage come out they're going to throw in and over tax onto you basically because it just they're going to drive out to the site and right then next year they're going to come out do the same thing and they said you know give us a package with so many l of your feet and it'll be cheaper for you and I that's what I came up with what I consider the two most dangerous uh guard rails that I feel need to go because the one on Green

Street really has to go okay they're both awful ter seen both I haven't been on cresen Street recently but I know where it is I don't even know if I know where Green Street is but I don't know all these up behind the Chinese restaurant it laterals over to Chandler okay can I ask a question yes ma'am yeah what is the so on the previous budget the the god rail replacement for $3,500 why wouldn't that be in this budget okay so so you're going back up to 4311 yeah okay so on average that's just again kind of like the sidewalk line ma' yeah um that's repairs every year after winter damage that's your standard stuff and that's just your standard on average we're we're doing that kind of repair around town we've got wooden guard rail sometimes we're able to PR some of the the box I beam we have pieces that we can go and take two pieces out put a piece in and that's about you know about what we're spending a year sometimes a little bit more so I left that as a repair line for us to go around after plowing and the Damage Done plowing this is a Pro this isn't the project line for a major and I and I that's why the select board was very willing to go let's keep the project line a project line and and declare Green Street cron Street projects okay yeah anything else right we're kind of leaning that way on a number of philosophically on a number of items that we want to make projects so that it makes more sense of the bud process okay anything else all right I'll call a vote now we're going to vote on the approving the budget without amendments to the original amount for this section so we're going to vote on the highway project section which is 4312 in the original amount of

$335,000 one all in favor I I that's six yeses so the NS and the extensions are uh don't exist streets and bridges 4319 I'll make a motion to consider section 4319 which is street street lighting and bridges for Highway in the select board recommended amount of $ 35,1 second thank you motion by Paul second by Sue the numbers like just got to take a zero out from the other one um so Street lighting and Street lighting bridg is $1 do we need to talk about this very much no that's ESP your electric bill every year1 is is the two bridges that are sitting in the red line oh okay um you want to commence budget committee meeting I'm just wondering where is it's over behind do you want me to do I have do I have secret entrance yeah you have to get through a security door yeah um let's V uh yeah let's vote I I have a question but has nothing to do with the budget so it's just as a as a committee I mean as a citizen of the town so not hearing any comments questions or motions to amend we will now vote on the bottom line for the section 439 Street lighting and bridges in the amount of $ 35,1 all in favor 60 that

passes uh I think that's it for your three sections right yes yes it is so you're welcome to stay if you'd like to but you'd surprise me if you do let check for anything then I will bid you a do and thank you for your time ladies and gentlemen thank you for so Shannon for for uh 4319 we passed at 60 thank you so now we're going to do 4324 check if you would take the hot seat please um here did you want to start with 43 and 24 yes we're going to do 4324 which is solid waste I'll make a motion to consider the Solid Waste Department section number 4324 in the select board recommended amount of $422,400 have anything that they wanted to uh this is all a new budget um since we separated from the highway department so right it's a new it's well I think this budget has existed but Mark would have just stayed in the chair and handled it along with highway so it's got a new a new leadership but it's it's it's an important point it's a it's a service that the town has been providing and will continue to

provide correct um I I think I just I think it's an important point for people that are watching some people may not realize that we have separated solid waste into its own entity and now it's no longer on the highway so that's it's just important to understand that okay thank you for that for that uh reminder or that explanation um I don't really see anything I guess the big question I was like to ask is that the disposal of household waste okay what Municipal MSL SML whatever Municipal Solid Waste whatever I mean that's a service that the town provides correct and the other services that we provide you know I got a Electronics I want to get rid of I got a propane tank I got to get rid of I got I got contract demolition crap I want to get rid of right that that we we ideally we provide that as a cost so we we have a cost structure that allows us to recoup and run that at roughly a break even you correct do do you feel like you have enough information that you're that you're reasonbly confident that we are achieving that that we are bringing in enough Revenue to to compensate for that we're not here to make money of course we're here to you know just do the service so um we try to separate like cardboard uh aluminum cans um we we do that uh there's cost in refrigeration with getting rid of the

freon um getting rid of tires um um there's cost there um we recycle oil um and then the highway uh they take it and burn it you know so um that that helps out too so um going forward we like to see you know some different programs I did start uh this year because of our hazardous waste they would not take Freon I mean not Freon um uh the bulbs floresent yeah fluorescent bulbs anymore so I had to start a program that now we take them at the transfer station every time you come um and that's a cost and we don't we don't charge nobody for it uh we just do it and it's not that much but there is a cost to it um but we're looking at doing you know trying to get stuff out of our msws which is our containers and we're looking at styrofoam you know going into next year hopefully that we can maybe try to get a program on styrofoam pulling that out um there is going to be a cost with that uh to start off with but we're looking at Grants trying to help out with that but um but that's it you know the the recycle program has worked very well um we're doing good with that so okay anyone else 70 I'll just say when it comes time to vote I'll be abstaining just because tr's my father-in-law so okay I had did know that but I forgot thank

you so so the um the solid waste disposal portion has gone up like $43,000 that's the that's the um from at least from before and this time it's gone up to 49 uh 19 13,000 that's just the that's just the waste that's just the extra cost of disposing of all of that is that what that is what line which line you want oh I'm sorry I'm I'm in the uh 4324 yeah but so you're just the total budget yeah the total budget so I mean the 40 so 40,000 extra is that because of these so additional I don't I don't see so we we for 24 we budgeted $49,000 M and for 2025 the current request is $422,000 so that's a little over $20,000 difference it's about a three 13,000 yeah well from the 409 right overall when you look at like hazus waste day um there's a few hundred there um going up there's yeah there's some stuff that are going up everything's going to go up you know a little bit here and there um contracts when we sign these contracts with NR you know they've had gone up this year so and we were on a I think a 7ye contract and I think it's about up but now they doing it one year at a time because they don't know the pricing of fuel and everything that you know that uh they do so so they're they're trying to do the best they can where we have to agree with most of their contracts so and I think least half of that $113,000 variance is just payroll and benefits oh yeah okay I I would point out that we made the decision at the

select board to uh put some more hours into the supervisor position so you got a little bit more money there and you got then as you say you've got the the benefits will go along with with that that are up a little bit and uh that's been the right decision as according to what people are saying about how the how this transfer station is running that department is friendly friendlier now than it's ever been good we strive on it so we like cleanliness uh and we try to help out as much as we can you know so we do appreciate the town there's always something coming right out to your car when you go to the dump and always asking can I help you with anything is there anything you want me to get it has been pretty amazing to have that and just if I have it over science bag of trash and I can't haul it out of my car it's nice to know someone's able to hold me that has been a huge game changer over there I'm really happy thank you yeah well thank you do the attendants regularly check for the stickers we do we did they do it very stitious if you look at if you look at the stickers from the the uh what we made last year compared to this year we're up over $1,300 I'm just concerned with people that don't have them adding their waste to our expense yeah we uh we're on top of it um do we have some that get by yes you know but the biggest saying you know I live here now so these are my people so I don't raise can with them saying I'm going to kick you out or anything like that but I do tell them say look the next time you come in you need to go talk to Rama you

know get you a sticker and come on back you know but go ahead and into your trash because I live on keer and I don't want it down on my ditch down there or tires or whatever which I've been picking up down there but that's the reason you know so um people always have a story and most of the times their stickers are in their clove compartment about 90% of so when we do ask they look oh yeah I forgot to put it and then they put it out say thank me come me that this year I had mine in glove compartment so they watch see oh yeah yeah we talk to about it absolutely so thank you any other comments we ready to vote on this I think we are all right so nobody is we haven't made any amendments there are no changes so we're going to vote on the number as originally proposed so we're making a final approval for the solid waste disposal budget section 4324 in the amount of $422,400 I I would may I add a little bit of that for context to people watching so so there's been a lot of great ideas brought to us about expanding Recycling and we had the conversation that the select board said that the we will bring to the voters and I won't be there anymore but bring to the voters say the reason a lot of talents have stopped recycling is because it hasn't paid off it's cost more to do that it does than just to have an MSW stream that's right so the select board said that it isn't our job to say we're going to recycle from a philosophical standpoint but in the future we're going to bring that to the people and say if you want to recycle it's going to cost you this much more and you have to

decide if that's what you want to do how you know the details of how we would do right so Chuck been bringing some good ideas forward on that so that's just a a sidebar okay thank you that's I I got two sidebars already I think I think you just have the one section right so that was it all done and I don't know where Jeff is so we kind of I guess I can stall for a minute but I don't have Jeff Stone you don't do you I don't but I think I know where I could find it okay could you want me to would you please see if we could give him a goose and see if he's on his way or he's forgotten us or what's going on I can do that's fine I thank youall thank you for coming down thank you have a good night yeah phone number phone number look there he is he said good night he expressed an interest but he didn't make the last meeting because he had a contct I'm just I want to keep I don't know if I have an email other than for a select Emil if I have a I have a phone number I can in fact you just sent me a text it's shut it uh I think you might be right but I don't know can't tell you your 481 that's what I believe 2549 sure thank you I put you know Christina I know she's yeah she's been she's been feeling she's been really sick this summer this past summer he had some time off but he got were sick a week or so appreciate it

most of their budget is Enterprise yeah right all of them well except for fire B yeah we've also had some philosophical disc questions about salt usage and how some people get concerned about how much salt is being used the NL has sampled the Black Brook that comes down from upper Birch down across by shacket there and the chlorides are high in there and they don't know why but it could be salt but upper brch tends to be kind of slick when you come around that corner so they salt that so I think we're going to be looking at that or your future select boards going to be having having that conversation with the Conservation Commission about are there are any areas we want to back off on salt usage okay that people won't feel like we're putting their safety at risk more sand less salt maybe so that that will be a conversation that will be happening yeah I didn't think I mean I have no idea if Victor or any the other people are but there is basically training on salt use where you get some sort of e certification that you understand the benefit and you know that's my understanding you know salt salt depresses the freezing point so instead of water freezing at 32 W salt water will stay liquid down to like 29 or something so if you're close to freezing salt has a real benefit to you but if you're down at 10° you might as well put sand down cuz Sal all the salt's going to be is grit because it doesn't you can't make water go liquid at 10° no matter how much salt you have but it it's important to know if they're actually use an effect it's easy to say I know Salt's going to affect the water but if you don't know that we don't we don't we don't know that at this point so but it's something that should be

talked about by a Conservation Commission your neighborhood's probably a little more important because you you're your the runoff from your roads drain into the lake I'm just slightly downhill of that so my runoff all goes into the Newfound river which goes to the peny which doesn't affect the lake so I don't think we're doing anything horrible but if we are at least it's not affec L and um we hope to have our late quality study report out in about two months we have been having trouble getting ourselves together to do the last two pages review the last two pages the the new NL building is come along great I've heard good things about it I haven't been up to was I talking having a tour I was talking to some of the people I was talking to some of the some of the people but I haven't been up to Hebron to take a look myself they're having I think it's next Saturday but I'm not don't quote me but they're having a tour and you can that could be I get there they take you through the building I'm a member I get their emails all the time that I usually just read them quick and then delete them yeah they they sent one out before Christmas inviting you know open invitation to come see it on a date okay and I heard that it was modular so that it was going up very quickly yeah for some yeah I watched some of it it's I'd seen it on this whole house but it's it's the the forms for the concrete are basically um I guess it's styrofoam and then something and then styrofoam and they just lay those in place with a crane and you know build it it's amazing Concrete in the middle well yeah it's kind of like public safy well except the public safety building they had to pour

it these are already made so they're just it's almost I watched them I watched them do most of the down the the first floor in probably a couple of hours it was almost like putting Legos oh that's the walls not the found the wall yeah the foundation is with pour but then the walls just prefabricated to to the specific building okay and and there insulated and they just put in place nice embraced and went up quickly I don't want to do too much that would not get our Note Taker not here so I don't think we can jump ahead and do minutes um I will remind people that so for schedule wise um our next meeting will be two weeks from tonight it's basically our review meeting so if you have any um sections that you want to reconsider we you can show up and just reopen them but if you let me know ahead of time I can put them on the agenda we'll get those budget sections printed out and distributed to all the the committee members that's prepared to talk about that and then we'll also have a over the the um the revenue projections and the preliminary warrant for town meeting which isn't won't be finalized doesn't get finalized till after the 31st because that's the deadline for petition warrant article so things could still be coming through but we'll at least get a heads up from from Christina and the select board about what the planned warrant is because we'll vote on that and then assuming that goes on the following week in the first Tuesday in February was on our calend calend is basically a makeup day in case we had to cancel something for snow I'm expecting

we won't need a meeting that day we'll just meet on the 11th to have our public hearing go over the budget go over revenues go over the warrant article vote on our recommendations for the warrant articles that have spending in them that we that we have to provide would that be a public hearing meeting that would be a public hearing meeting yes we might need that meeting if uh we don't do super tonight right if we don't right we would have to yeah what did you hear he apologizes to the committee he will be here very soon okay he forgot us huh he forgot us I wasn't going to say that but well now that you're back can we can we why don't we why why don't we at least get some things done we want you want to review the minutes for the most recent meeting on the uh December 17th does that make sense yeah um I don't have any comments does anyone have any or do you need me to spall while you take look for you bu you always have a couple of Corrections I count on you for for spelling grammar and uh yeah punctuation um in um on the first page under 4550 Library okay one two 3 four lines down line begins materials yeah after the word downloadable I think you should add in the word book it doesn't you know what downloadable okay that's how they described it with downloadable and then

um no they just I looked back at my notes they said downloadable book rates yeah yeah um then in the last sentence in that on that page um Miss Haywood stated yes um and yes I have a question mark stated yes to what I couldn't figure it out I would oh never mind no I'm sorry I know what the question is I asked a question were the rates fixed or charge provideed and she stated yes yes were they fixed or yes were they charge provided and I went back to my notes and I couldn't tell so so that's a substantive question that I don't know the answer to maybe you can just go and listen again and see what she says I think I think that the charge is per usage per volume and her comment was I I think what she was saying was that the number went up for two reasons because patrons are using more books and the cost per book usage charged by the State library has gone up correct that's what I remember as well so okay I I can because that being a library trustee I know she said that during one of our meetings that it's both that okay the the cost per book use has gone up and the number of books that we use has gone up so both of those things have contributed maybe this can just be made we can CL clarify to say that yeah okay we don't spend a lot of time on that um in on page two um 4140 election registration Vital

Statistics um about 3/4 of the way down the line begins with the word State mhm state will inform her strike the word in oh in sometime in 2025 and then continuing in that same line when the Grant application at the word window before the word is Grant application window is open and then strike the words to apply for okay because it ends the sentence and preposition um 43 I mean 4130 um four lines down at the end of the line um the word there should be either his or her depending upon who the executive assistant is and I don't know who it is so I'm but the the beach supervisor Miss Goodwin stated the employee singular so majority the employee is a female person okay so then it the word there should be C the word her okay I think that is something that's starting to be done though given the discussion on on gender I know for for 60 year old people like and we don't do it I'm with you I'm just making a point can you repeat that again though just to make sure I uh in in the line it's it's four lines down the line begins with the word budget in in 4130 okay and in budget period Miss Goodwin stated that stated the employee is still the beat supervisor but the majority of and then strike the word there and insert the word her okay um and then uh in that same section

one five lines up from the bottom the line begins recognition gifts yeah instead of the word or I went back my notes it should be and it's recognition gifts and the holiday party and then in the very last line of the page um period Miss Goodwin stated um through findings um through I think it should through findings from the 2023 audit the word the second word through should become the word from okay um at the top of the next page one two three four five six lines down the line begins with the word receives yeah um $750,000 or more in federal strike the word funds and then Grant funds should be lower case lowercase G lowercase f okay um in under legal 4143 in the second line at the end uh noting bills will be paid from the budget comma and and then insert the word she okay and then at the next page at the very top will no longer be used in this budget and and then insert the word she okay then let's see about a third of the way down the line begins with the

word plan does plan with primex includes cyber securing security training and then insert the word in training in which employees which much which must watch a video open and let's see what is this oh um about halfway down that paragraph the line begins of the property y strike relatively in between and insert expected in sales expected in January or February okay and then three lines up from the bottom of that paragraph you have an extra four in the dollar amount it says the amount of 439 oh 4 million yeah thank you buzz there just an extra 4 mil well there's no comma so yeah there's no Comm um in 4521 on the next page yep about halfway down the line begins with the word season Y if a chair in poor condition is return this budget covers the cost of add the word replacement beach chairs okay because we had a big discussion about that and we're only replacable not buying new um uh under 4651 this is really nickola dive the the line begins in tens mhm um and if you move over peny path there's no there's no dash or hyphen it's just peny path oh okay and then is it all one word is

there a space it's capital P capital P but it's it's not hyphenated but I mean is there so is it a is it a compound word with two caps in it or is it two words pem two words pemi path yep like Jones Trail y um and then in that same line noting Mr MCN will be working Goa and actually now that I see that it's not MCN it's vign VI I made the same mistake so we finished we finished voting on water and Su after zero budget the engineer's name is not MCN because I made the same mistake it's vignali v i g n a l e n a l e and when you hear it said yeah so I yeah I try to Google as many names as possible sometimes it doesn't work out that okay so his name is in there twice it's got to get places I just noticed it now I okay that's it that's all I guy said I can't believe miss all right so give me one more second so any other comments questions suggestions changes so now we will vote on approving the minute as amended all in favor did we have a first or a second while I go I'll second I don't think you had a motion uh yeah Paul Paul made a motion and choked second thank you we can have creative ear you heard what I all right um so now we will go back to the discussion of departments we had just finished finished with solid waste and if you look at our

um the next on our list is Sewer Department operations so Jeff if you could sit at the chair with the microphone I'll make a motion to uh move the budget for sewer department operations which is section 4326 yeah but I wanted to actually because it's a little confusing it's 05- 4326 in the amount of 8,294 610 somebody second that M wait wait that doesn't seem like the real number I think I got the wrong number I got the wrong number it's 5 let's try again Paul 560 five so try again yeah that seemed like too big a number didn't it five so the correct budget number is 5,775 second okay motion by PA seconded by Joe for the correct amount of5 60,770 um so basically Jeff what we're doing is there anything in here that you want to call to our attention that you want to say has changed that you want us to to adjust and then when if you have none or when you finish doing that if we have any questions we think I'm good U we did put a dumpster in it I Christine and I were talking about taking that out I don't that would be under of my Capital Equipment I was going to say you have a there's another section for I would think the cost for emptying a dumpster

would be in here if you're going to buy a dumpster it's probably in your yeah yeah that's in the next Department okay yeah but as far as the the my operating budget it's pretty much level funded from the previous year just payroll uh increases um I don't think there's anything that was really too much of an increase that I'm call no you got a couple of things in here that have a that kind of have a high percentage change but the dollar amount is not significant and I guess I'll start with if you don't have anything I'll just start with the question that I always wonder about it's not even so much a budget question it's just with with the labor market the way it is now how are you doing on staff are you are you fully staffed you have open positions how how are you doing we have open positions we're looking for we had been looking for certified operators we're in the process of uh having a training in the now operator and training for the Wastewater okay we still continue to look for a licensed certified waste water operator um but not very successful at all so uh when we when we find them they're they're paid a lot more in other towns so and you probably hear that a lot but um it's it is just the way it is so it's hard to to and it's they're short too other towns are short I see I see I think they're paying to keep the guys that they do have so that makes sense okay so your solution is to hire someone without the training and the licensing and train them up yeah um it has put us in a bind because uh checking stations on the weekends we do have to have a certified operator certified in Wastewater in order to check the the wastewater treatment facility so um for years we had not done it that way but our water offerers had the ability to do so I don't know if it was last year's budget or something else but I remember you're

telling me the state kind of changed the rules or yeah I don't know uh if we just misinterpreted them but uh that's the way it is now and they they're cracking down on all the towns to do so follow that so okay um I don't see anything in here that I have questions about does anyone else have a question or a comment any suggestions on changing anything I want to make sure sure that you get that opportunity before we move on minut are you ready to no I mean there's nothing really part of budget so not hearing any any um desire to make any changes and no more questions we'll go ahead and vote on moving the bottom line so we didn't make any changes it's the original amount so we're going to have a vote on a final approval for the sewer operations Department budget which is section 05- 4326 in the amount of let's get it right this time Paul 56,7 75 all in favor I six eyes so the n and the extensions of about zero and that passes so we did sewer operations now we'll do sewer capital projects and here's your dump yeah so that that can be zeroed out I had uh we had purchased that um in the 20124 budget um with funds from cap Reserve okay so what I'm hearing you say is that you support me making a motion to amend line 942 of section

4327 which is a sludge dumpster for the Sewer Department capital projects from the current amount of $122,000 to a new amount of $0 second motion by Paul seconded by Joe did we open up the budget for discussion didn't I we can edit the individual line first I think no you're right Shannon thank you okay I I will make a motion to move the budget for sewer capital projects which is section 05 4327 in the amount of $32,000 I second seconded by Sue and I I'll make a motion to amend line 942 of said budget from the current amount of 12,000 to a new amount of Zero seconded by Joe does anyone I don't think I need to talk about it so I'm going to no does anyone want to make a comment all in favor I six eyes so no Nays or extensions so we will take that $112,000 out your Paving and your South Main Street Bridge Crossing are still in there yes correct okay so so the bottom line just correct I'm also trying to keep my notes here to make sure I know what I'm doing oops not 1,200 but 12,000 I can't do but anyway so any other questions

comments thank you Jeff for bringing that to us um are the the two projects that are still in here the the paving at the treatment plant and the repairs for I guess this is repairing the sewer line where it crosses yeah there's uh South Main Street bridge at the at the bridge there where the river goes underneath insulation and the support brackets uh need to be repaired or replaced I was just going to ask is it is this is this like a oneoff project or is this a multi- is this like a part of a what's going to be a multi-year project um no it just did not get done this past year I had budgeted but just did not have the time to do thank you all right so not hearing any other comments trying to keep things moving along here we will now vote on the bottom line budget for capital projects for the sewer department which is number 05- 4327 in the new amended amount of $20,000 all in favor six eyes eight nay and exensions are zero passes [Music] um boy this one's not going to take a lot of time sewer Surplus so I'll make a motion to move the uh budget for the sewer department Surplus which is is 05- 4328 in the amount of $1 second second motion by Paul seconded by Joe so I think this is pretty standard this makes sense it'll be what it is the $1 is a placeholder you get the when you

get to the end of the year you'll figure out what the operating Surplus is and work with Christina to make that happen correct yeah any other comments I'm I'm mostly explaining that for anyone who's watching us while we're streaming because $1 seems kind of silly yeah but we don't we don't try to predict what the real numbers are going to be at the end of 2025 it's easier just to leave a placeholder and it doesn't affect the operation of the sewer department and it gives you in the town the the freedom to do what needs to be done all in favor I set six passes um so now we move over to the water side of things so I will make a motion to move the water department operations budget which is what is it 07- 4331 in the amount of $523,111 19 I get a wrong number um did we skip over The Debt Service uh yes I was going to do water oh sewer sewer sewer wait sewer operation sewer Capital then I got water operation water Capital then I got fire betterment and then I got all of the debits fourth one from the bottom sewer de interest right I get so so the order that I have them on my agenda are sewer operations sewer Capital sewer Surplus water operations water Capital water Surplus fire betterment then sewer debt principle water debt principes sewer debt interest water debt interest okay and then we're done did you want to do all the sewer ones first does it matter to you it's just the way iead of that's the way we got what I when I printed that one out

for you and I said there were two 47 111s and 47 21s one set of principal and interest for sewer and then one for water okay we can go we can we can go do that that's the order you have them let's do it that way so I ignore what I just said and I will make a motion to move excuse me the I got the wrong section here I opened up interest instead of principal 4711 yeah I opened 4721 I'm going to move The Debt Service principal for the sewer department which is 07 4711 05471 0547 thank you 730 yeah well in the amount of $2,234 yeah second motion by Paul seconded by Joe so um that was what you were expecting is that we back on track yeah yeah okay um so these are projects that have happened in the past that we or or in the case of 997 projects that haven't happened yet and so we don't have to make a principal payment in 2025 correct yeah so I don't see much to talk about here we we have either made these commitments and we have to uh meet them or we just know the future commitments are coming but we don't really have much if we're going to be respons responsible we don't have any ability to change these numbers and we are going to be responsible so not hearing any other

questions comments questions or motions we'll now vote on the bottom line budget for Debt Service principal payments for the sewer department which is section 05471 in the amount of 5223 all in favor I we have six eyes so no n and no let me make sure I go to that so we did sewer principle now we're going to do sewer interest SE so that's 05472 right so I'll move consideration of the interest payments on long-term debt for the sewer department which is section 05- 4721 in the amount of 21,000 $920 second seconded by Sue motion by Paul seconded by Sue for sewer debt interest payments to [Music] $2,920 um I think the only question I have is that for line 997 when this budget was originally put together I expect that was probably a bit of a guesstimate do you have any updated information is that still a good number or do you need more money or do you need less money or is there any reason that we you would want that changed or is 20,000 the right amount um I believe that's the right amount Christine and I talked about that a little bit okay I think that's she's happy that I just didn't know if since September to now something had changed if you wanted something change I'm sure confident we would have accommodated you yeah I think we're good any other questions comments not hearing

any we will now vote on the bottom line for this section which is interest payments on long-term debt for the sewer department section 05- 4721 in the original amount of $2,920 all in favor passes unanimously 60 now we can move on to water operations right seem reasonable that much so water operations I'll make a motion to move the bottom line for the water operations section budget which is water is 07 right 07- 4331 in the amount of $523,111 19 second seconded by Sue motion by Paul seconded by Sue water operations $523,111 19 anything you want to bring to our attention Jeff no pretty much uh follows the same as SE it's the increases are in payroll um overall I think what is it 4% overall in that operating budget right so that's that's usually what we see what to six present um I don't I don't think anything no I don't think so I mean oh surprise surprise yep I don't think we need to talk about cell phones or safety boots or uniforms or something like that that's just normal inflation

as far as I know yeah any other comments are okay not hearing any we will go ahead and vote on the bottom line budget for water operations 07- 4331 in the original amount of $523,111 19 all in favor I we have six eyes so no names and no and then we will go to water Capital let's go back to capital projects I'll make a motion to introduce the or to uh move forward the water capital projects which is 05- 4332 07 07 sewer is 05 thank you Carol in the amount of $20,500 second motion by Paul seconded by Joe water capital projects $20,500 [Music] um it's so same thing this is the other half of the paving there was some of this in the sewer already and then the fiber skater I was going to say is this something now I see what it was was it was it was in last year's budget but you just didn't get it done so it's again in this year's budget right um yeah we've done a little bit of work uh and then we wanted to continue that we did not get that same as the paving um and the floor epoxy we did purchase the the one ton dump truck just recently so that that goes away but everything else is staying uh to carry out this

year okay anyone else have any questions or comments not not hearing any go ahead and vote on the bottom line so we're voting on water department capital projects which is 07- 4332 in the amount un amended amount of $220,500 all in favor I got six eyes there nay and exensions is zero that passes after water Capal now we got a water Surplus assuming that so I'll make a motion [Music] to consider the water Surplus section of the budget which is 07- 4333 in the select board recommended amount of $1 you want to get a second in Walter oh all second motion by Paul seconded by Walter for s water Surplus for $1 so again for anyone watching on the live stream or watching on the recording again this is kind of a placeholder we're not at this point going to try to predict what the Department's operating Surplus will be at the end of 2025 so we put a dollar in year as a placeholder and then let Jeff work with Christina and the rest of the Town Administration to do what needs to be done to fund the capital reserve reses which will fund capital projects in future years so not hearing any other comments or questions we'll go ahead and vote on this bottom line for the operating

surplus of the water department section 07 4333 in the amount of $1 all in favor I six eyes so no Nays and no extensions the passes unanimously fire better so this I remember from past year so let me start with we'll make a motion to advance to consider the fire betterment the fire bment section which is 4339 in the select board recommended amount of $10,000 second motion by Paul seconded by Sue for fire betterment for $10,000 and this is we I know we've asked about this in the past so I'll this is basic hydrant uh repair or putting new ones in or it's all about hydrants right y uh it helps the water department with the maintenance of the fire hydrants so that is when I looked looked into it years ago that $10,000 was about half of what it cost us to maintain the hydrant system but that number well I should look back into that just to see what it costs now cuz just purchasing a F's about $3,500 never mind putting it in so and we've had on average a couple of them each year so on top of removing snow and maintaining flushing spring and fall um main uh maintaining the paint and whatnot so it's quite an expense for us to do so and we' asked town to help us out with that over the years and that number hasn't changed for years so right so my my understanding is that basically

the cost of this program to maintain and install new fire hydrants in the town is split between the municipal Town budget and the water department operations budget so this is the town Municipal contribution towards that all the all the additional expenses of being picked up by the water department being paid for by us through our water bills as opposed to this is being paid for through our property taxes correct okay I think it makes sense you've explained it in the past so I was listening yeah did did any other questions yeah these are just curious questions so uh what's the lifespan of a of a hydrant what what's we do have hydrants out there that were installed in 1952 that still work perfectly fine so um and um so it's about 3500 to replace one just yeah that's uh just to purchase a hydrant now about that price so and how many would you say in the whole town of BR we have 165 Hy say 165 wow okay okay so if like you had a few Go at once that'd be kind of eat up that 10,000 yeah um yeah we've had a few that were hit so fortunately uh the the car insurance uh had paid for that so great okay anything else that so this basically means everyone in town is contributing to a hydrant which is for everyone's benefit as opposed to a user who's paying for their own benefit only okay right what are you just as a point of clarification for people watching if you're paying your own water bill you're paying some towards the hydrant but the rest of the taxpayers

should be also paying towards the hydrants is the basic idea okay no yes it's being I don't know what the split is because I don't know the total cost but of the total cost 10,000 is being paid for from the municipal budget from all property owners in the town and the rest of it being paid from by the water department through water usage fees okay all right so now we'll vote on Final approval for this section uh 4339 which is fire betterment in the unamended amount of $10,000 all in favor six eyes so gr and the extensions zero and all right I think we're done somebody can correct me if I missed one because obviously I water water Debt Service SE thank you C I thought I felt I was forgetting something but I thought I is done so that's thank you for bringing that up all right so we have two more sections to go I'll make a motion to introduce to move forward with considering the debt the water department long-term debt principle which is section 07- 4711 in the amount of $ 55,1 73 seconded seconded motion by Paul seconded by Joe for water debt principal $ 55,1 73 um again there's two projects in here we've taken the bonds we need to make the payments I don't think we have any real opportunity to make any changes so we'll now vote on bottom line approving this section which is water Debt Service principal

payments 07- 4711 for the unamended amount of $ 55,1 se3 all in favor I I didn't mean not to ask you if I you wanted to say something please jump in and we're not no I didn't I didn't think I caus you to not but usually I ask you what you want to say and I didn't even do that that time no I'm good with that so okay water department um long-term debt interest payments 07- 4721 in the select board recommended amount of so we're moving forward with uh 6,400 is that right $644 second thank you motion by Paul seconded by Joe for water debt interest payments for $641 14 not hearing any other comments Jeffy have anything you needed to say d so we're going to vote on the bottom line of approving this budget section uh section 07- 4721 which is long-term debt interest payments for the water department in the unamended amount of $644 all in favor I I six eyes and Nam and extensions are zero did I get them all now mhm yes thank you I think we're done thank you for yeah coming down on short notice sorry I wasn't here when I was supposed to those things happen if you if you said you weren't coming we would have given you grief but we we will in stall and wait a few minutes so I will say that uh we do not plan on raising uh

water rates or sewer rates this this year coming to the budgets all right thank you thank you has the has the um I know that the project is approved and I thought I had heard engineering was happening when do you expect them to actually stick a shovel in the ground and start building in the building um I think it won't until spring so but they are working on shop drawings and ordering some of the bigger Parts if they need to take some uh time to get out of those okay yeah the clock is be uh completed in the next 18 months looking forward to it all right thank you all right so we've done all of the new business and I don't have any but I I believe that now we have considered all of the departmental sections of the municipal budget so we we have a rough we we've approved all the sections next meeting we will have the opportunity to go back and reconsider any sections that you want the budget deliberations are not closed there still can be more changes made but all ass sections have been approved at least to this point I wonder what Dawn came for I was go through the agenda and get here in a second I was at another meeting I just stopped in that's all okay so so we've already done watch he's watching over me what he doing we've already we've already we've already done the minute meetings so the next item on our agenda is correspondence so um I did get a piece of Correspondence that I want to make the rest of the committee aware of I got a an email from

Betty sealer and Betty is on the board of directors for the Lakes Region Visiting Nurse Association so she contacted me and said that the executive director had reached out to her to ask her to ask the priscal budget committee what's the status of their uh budget line so I told Betty where we were and that they currently were at off the top of my head I want to say $20,000 which was the selectable recommended amount but it's something that we had discussed and it's something that we would be bringing up in our meeting on January 28th when we're going back to reconsider budget sections so I'm not sure why but the Lakes Region Visiting Nurse did reach out and ask what's the status and that and I gave them that update so I don't know if Betty's going to come to the meeting or what's going on but we will reconsider Lakes Region um if I'm not mistaken we agreed to 22 I don't have the budget in front of me right now so was I I don't think so but not sure we we had we had motions to change the number and none of those motions passed we had a motion to change the line for Penny Baker and that line did that vote did passed so the penny vaker line is different than what the select board recommended but the Lakes Region Visiting Nurse Association is still at the select board recommended amount but we will talk about it again in two weeks the penny we raised we raised the the amount in any in any case we will talk about it okay and if there's any other I said it before I will say it again the as I understand it we are not constrained by the agenda so when we meet in two weeks any we can make a

motion to reopen any section of the budget but if we know that we want to reopen a section of the budget I would like to know about it ahead of time because we'll put it on on the agenda that way if members of the public are interested they know they're going to know we're going to talk about it if we think that it's going to be significant not so much for but if we said we were going to consider a major cut in the police department I would want to give the the department head the the chief a heads up you might want to come to this meeting so if we know we're going to reopen things we'll let the department heads know and we I'll try to give them a heads up it's not a big deal you can come if you want or it is a big deal you really should come we don't you know we want to be open and transparent we also want them I also want them to be here to provide their point of view and their input to help us come to the best decision I take it that my request or reopen that particular line on both lines has already been the the the SE the section for health agencies will be reopened in at the next meeting in two weeks both lines peny Baker and when when reopen we open budget section so the section is for it's I believe is labeled Health agencies so both of the lines in there can be can be discussed um don't think that I had any other corresponden did anyone else get any correspondence from budget business okay um so now comments so we usually start with select board anything going on with the select board that uh you want to share with us that we should know um probably nothing more than I've shared during the course of the meeting other than uh we appreciate the work you're doing we did talk about this a little bit last time so thank you for everything you're doing and and I think

that's about it okay um Joe anything you wanted to say no buzz no Walter I regret having brought up that salt I think we're okay you're good Walter don't wor we're okay don't worry about it you can reopen at next meeting normally we ask normally we ask Christina if staff has any comments I'll ask jannon do you have you don't have any comments right um so any comments from the public did you come that you wanted to say something to us no I was in I was I heard you were in you were in with the you guys are still here sit for a while all right um so before we adjourn I'll just I mention it before I again our next meeting is in two weeks on the 28th and we will review the any subjects any budget any departmental sections of the budget that we want to reconsider we will reopen and consider we will also go over the revenue forecast which at the meeting 3 weeks later we will have to vote to approve and we'll go over the preliminary warrant which is won't be settled but we'll at least know what's going on um Paul quick thing did we um just with the request if we can get them in maybe um I think we had discussed like midweek next week so TP so typically what'll happen is we'll get out we'll get Shannon and I work to get the minutes of this meeting done over over hopefully over the weekend by early next week so ideally we'll send the meeting announcement with the agenda and all the budget and all the attachments which in this case will be revenues and warrant articles and and health agencies because we know we're reopening those by the middle of next week so if you know you want to reopen a section if you could let us let

me know or let Shannon know say within a week by next Tuesday and then the other thing I don't think we have to make a final decision but I'm just going to repeat again our schedule says we have a tentative meeting on the 1 Tuesday of February which was basically in case we needed to make up for a cancelled meeting for a snow cancellation or something we haven't canceled any meetings so I'm expecting we will not have a meeting on the 4th we can make a final decision in two weeks on the 28th to see if there's any work that Still Remains to be done before the public hearing anyone else have anything before we adjourn okay we'll go ahead and adjourn this meeting at 8:04 p.m. thank you very much for coming have a good night for