Town Council - Special Meeting

Moving to our agenda.

One motion to adopt it.

Second. Motion made and seconded. Is there any discussion? Changes? That makes you a discussion meeting as well. Hearing. Hearing no discussion, those in favor of the agenda, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, nay. Agenda is adopted. Agenda item two, public remarks. Those or anyone who wishes to make public remarks or comments at this time. We have three minutes, sir. You have three minutes. Okay. Thank you. We'll be quick.

Neil Hendrickson. I live in 19 Turf Road. Paid my tax bill today. You guys are all welcome. I just wanted to request that my money not be used for property tax assessments, and that's it. Thank you.

I don't understand. Can you clarify?

I'm sorry. abatements. Tax abatements.

What else?

Greg Foucher, 64 South Main. I want to say thank you for whoever was responsible for paving Main Street. It was a pleasure to drive here tonight. I went to the visioning thing. It was fascinating. You know, they had the high school, the town, and stuff like that. But I was shocked when I got my tax bill. Why is there not a piece of paper in there with a questionnaire prioritizing things? Everything that happened at that vision center, visioning thing, could have Could I have a sheet of paper? How much would that have cost? And then people could, because there's no time people are going to be more motivated to fill out a questionnaire than when they're about to write a check for $1,000. So why aren't we doing that? That seems efficient. And yet I think you guys, it would make your job harder if you heard from us, right? Like why wouldn't there be questionnaire of priorities and different things like that and maybe on the back people could write things down because if people feel heard i don't think they mind so much when things don't go their way uh and about the school we are not tapping into the students i mean what if we had a contest a prize rather every student any student who recognized uh savings they would get 10% of it. Maybe it got put substantial enough they save the school $10,000 a year. I'd want that kid to get $1,000. Maybe it goes into an account when he graduates or whatever. But every single student would have a keener understanding of efficiency and eliminating waste, which is true for any successful entrepreneurship or any household. Why aren't we doing that? You guys are sort of management and we're sort of labor. I think management's job is to make labor's job easier because if the employee's job is easier, we'll do it. I think it's your job to make our job as residents easier for us to get our ideas, our genius, our creativity, including the kids, to you guys so that you can do more of what people want. Thank you.

Anyone?

Shelby Galvin, 46 White Birch Road. Good evening. I'm here tonight as a parent and a taxpayer. My child was formally accepted into the Smart Start Preschool program for the 26-27 school year. I submitted all required paperwork by the deadline. As part of that process, I provided extensive personal and sensitive information about my child and family, including information about my pregnancy and labor history. Families provided this information with the belief that their child had a secured place in that program. Yesterday, I received a letter in the mail informing me that the program would no longer be available. The way this decision was communicated was incredibly disappointing, and in my opinion, a disservice to the children and families that were counting on this opportunity. Parents were not given a phone call. We were not offered a conversation. We were not given the opportunity to ask questions or discuss possible alternatives like a sliding scale fee. Instead, we were given a letter that said, we are very sorry, while talking about the budget. Last night, the superintendent stated that the district would receive a $97,000 grant for the upcoming school year and that the district could apply approximately $45,000 in a sliding scale tuition fee. Together that's just under $150,000. Why were families never given the opportunity to participate in the fee that was available when the other preschool classrooms in Memorial School have a tuition fee already? Why is the town foregoing nearly $150,000 in identified revenue while children lose access to an early education? I'm not asking for blame. I'm asking for transparency, accountability, and answers for the families who complied with every requirement. Thank you.

Is there anyone else who would Care to speak.

I'll make this quick because it looks like you guys have a fun night ahead of you. Just real quick, just looking at some of the cuts that were proposed and obviously there's a lot of debate here and there. I noticed in the land use building department, the clerical position is being eliminated, but they're talking about bringing an assistant or a second land use enforcement uh position uh there's always a justification for any hire but it seems like that's a new hire for the town um from what I saw that would seem to be the only new hire um I don't think that's necessary especially when there's a lot of other really crucial things being cut uh town's gotten by with one planner uh land use person for uh this long um I think you know everyone's making cuts I think that would be an unnecessary add-on to the town uh that's all I got uh thanks

Peter Haslund, Anyone else.

Karen Hollweg, crystal Chan 34 on that avenue. Karen Hollweg, um. Decisions aren't made in a vacuum. The chief of police, the commission on aging, director of senior center, the fire chief, BOE superintendent, all contributed to the decisions that are put forth here today. In particular, I believe it was well communicated the potential cuts the BOE was making. And with that information, the community still voted no. I am concerned now that there may be a contingent of people that are unhappy with the cuts the BOE and the superintendent have put forth and may vote no with the thought that we can bring these cuts back. The best of my understanding, given we are in mid-July now, this is not something that we can change based on the cuts that have been put forth. Can you please provide clarity now on what a no versus a yes vote means to the BOE budget?

Does a no vote...

I appreciate your attention, please.

We'll make a point of order. We passed bylaws back in January, I think, and one of the things that was passed was To not be on our cell phones during meetings as council members, and there's a council member that continues to be disrespectful and be on the phone. And it's we're watching and it's very rude to people who are speaking. So I would just like to clarify that our rule state, we should not be on our phones during our council meetings.

The point of order is well taken would remind all members. of council and others in the audience to mute or turn your phones off.

Thank you. does a no vote mean um sorry does a no vote mean more cuts could no vote bring back some budget but the primary cuts that the schools are planning to move forward with will come as as planned i want to make sure that we understand if that is the case that is it that a yes vote is appropriate path to allow us to move forward into the fiscal year and allow our town to focus on how we can come back from this including a very interesting suggestion from mr finn last night about helping with the effect of the re-evaluation. He put forth a suggestion that I think our community needs to put some energy into and to understand. I very much appreciate the energy that the majority of the BOE and the BOF have put into this process to get information out and solicit input. We need all of our elected officials to contribute to this process with tangible suggestions and clear facts to inform our community. As a recent example, I want to give kudos to our fire chief for his social media communication today that he put forth about the outcome of the meeting yesterday. So thank you for your time.

Thank you.

So. Hi, someone for 7 Colchester Avenue. Um, I was at the, I was not, I was, I saw the video of the meeting where the proposed cuts were. Were submitted, I don't believe the board of education voted on those. Correct me if I'm wrong and yet. We'd move forward as if the cuts were definite. Which is confusing that they could do something like that unless the chair Nancy caller especially said that use allowed for the. For them to move forward on those without a vote, but the board of education. My concern is cuts are being made. It is a hill to Diane. I would die on middle school sports. Because we have a prominence of students, 20%, one out of five with autism or special needs, and sports is one of the main areas in which students can overcome some of their disabilities. That's the hill that I'm willing to die on. Uh, that being said, the town council, I know, doesn't have the authority to make. Sorry to to overrule the board of education on certain things, but. You do have the authority to set guidelines and guard rails as a state of connect. It does. Um, you can, for example. Um, have the board of Ed reopen contracts. You can set standards like, um. teachers be forced to or administrators to retire at a certain age, limit or cap the salaries at a certain level. You can put that into the town code. If you can tell the town people that they have to buy into the sewer system, you can tell the Board of Education what to do and how to run their meetings because the Board of Education, in my opinion, is acting irresponsibly and scaring the town every freaking year we go through this. There are cuts that can be made and there's expenditures that can be made over and above whatever the referendum is. The state is not gonna come down on the members of the Board of Education for putting in a deficit and keeping a program that's necessary for the students. For example, middle school sports, $88,000 on a $50 million budget That money can be made up. There's attrition that happens every year. There's retirements that happen every year. If it's not this year, it will happen next year. And you can make up that 88,000 next year. We did that two years in a row with over 400, $600,000 deficit spending. It was made up last year with significant cuts. What I'm getting at is the town council has the ability to put in guardrails to dictate to the Board of Education to reopen contracts and to handle money differently than they do now. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there anyone else who would like to make public remarks? Is there anyone online?

Hello, can you hear me? Shannon Turner, 42 Spicel Drive. I just have a couple of remarks. Conversations around the budgets. I do have a question. I don't know if that's appropriate, but hopefully I can ask this. I was hearing that the road budget was used in the past to repair an emergency bridge that was flooded. so that there was some monies taken from that to do that. And then I also hear that we have a surplus and I'm just wondering why that surplus can't be used to put the money back that we used for the bridge if it hasn't already been done. So that was one question I have. And I've come before and discussed and so have other residents about communication around budgets and using school resources. And this morning I saw communication on Facebook coming from the schools I'm asking residents to sign up for parents square to have notifications around budgets again. Not every resident in town has access to parents square. I think it's inappropriate to be using these resources and sending out information to parts of the town when we all don't have access to that. So, again, I don't think parents square is appropriate. Resource to be using, unless we all can sign up for parents square to get those budget messages. Thank you so much.

Hi, Haley Guy, 16 Curry Lane. First, I want to acknowledge that I know these were incredibly difficult decisions. I truly believe that no one wanted to eliminate preschool, middle school athletics, art, after school clubs, special education supports, classroom teachers, or transportation from this budget. i recognize that after the proposed 1.78 increase to the overall town budget was voted down difficult choices had to be made but that doesn't make this any less heartbreaking um i know because i'm one of the parents that's now scrambling my son was accepted into the smart start preschool program we received our acceptance letter made plans trusted the process and now just weeks before school starts that opportunity is gone like many other families I'm trying to find another preschool when many programs are full or already have wait lists. Last night, a comment was made that preserving these programs would have cost the average person about $5.50 a month. That number has stayed with me, $5.50. That's less than a pizza delivery fee, a specialty coffee, or a fast food meal. Many of us spend more than that without even thinking about it. Yet for that amount, our community has lost preschool for our youngest learners, middle school athletics, art, after school clubs, classroom teachers, and educational supports for students that truly need the most. I keep coming back to one question. What is the average homeowner actually saving under the newly proposed mill rate after all these cuts? when i look at everything our children are losing i honestly wonder if those savings are worth the opportunities we've taken away whether someone voted yes or no i hope this experience becomes a lesson for all of us before the next referendum i hope every voter takes the time to become informed read the budget documents watch the board of education board of finance and town council meetings ask the questions they're happy to answer use the information our town makes available An informed community makes stronger decisions regardless of how each person ultimately votes. Our children only get one chance to be children. They only get one preschool experience, one middle school experience. Once these opportunities are gone, we cannot get them back. I hope we continue looking for every possible solution in the future, grants, partnerships, efficiencies, or any other opportunity to hope to restore many of these programs for the future. Our children definitely deserve that effort. Thank you.

Anyone else in the audience who Deciders to make public comments not move on. Gender item continually business. A review discussion discussion. And possible action on fiscal year, 2026, 2027. General government board of education debt service and capital improvement. Budgets with 3rd referendum.

Do you want me to do any kind of an introduction for you?

Please.

Okay. So you have in front of you the recommendation from the Board of Finance for modifications going into the third iteration of the budget for the third referendum. I gave to the council a summary sheet earlier today based on the actions that the Board of Finance took last night and the eliminations, reductions, modifications that they made, along with a recap of what they had done in the previous version that failed on July 14th. So overall, making reductions in the transfer station, police department, employee benefits, public works, library, and in the contingency line, the Board of Finance reduced the general government by $200,000 and change. Additionally, they increased the amount of revenue that they're recommending be used from fiscal year 26 that is in excess of budgeted amounts to offset the cost of capital improvements. So basically what they've done is they have reduced the transfer of current taxes to the capital reserve fund in the budget with the intent of replacing that, as I said, with capital or rather with revenues received in fiscal 26. That brings the total of the amount that they have recommended for cash use from 26 into 27 to just over 600,000. Additionally, they further reduced the education budget by $350,000 for an overall reduction in the budget from the iteration that failed on July 14 of $690,949. If you'd like, I can just recap for you what the total amounts were. The general government total for the third referendum would be $19,358,960, which is a reduction from the town's fiscal year 26 budget of $437,820 or 2.2% and change. The education budget was recommended at $39,550,937, which is an increase from the fiscal 26 budget of $787,986, or just a little over 2%, 2.03%. Overall, the town's budget would be proposed from the Board of Finance at $58,909,897, which is an increase from the previous fiscal year of $350,166 or six-tenths of 1%. Uh, so that is their proposal, uh, in front of you, uh, as outlined in the material that you received, uh, both this morning and later on in the afternoon, uh, from, uh, the board of finance. I'll have to happily answer any questions I can, but that's the recommendation you'd have from them.

Oh, yeah. And I'm going to try to be as calm as I can. Who is the policymaking body of the town? Is it not the town council?

Are you directing the question to me? Yeah.

We're the town manager, either one of you. Yes. So how is it that the policy was decided by the town manager to be presented to the board of finance to close the transfer station without as much as bringing it to the town council. It was not sent out to the town council by the town manager. It was forwarded by one of our members that got an unsolicited suggestion that there might be some savings made by using a local contractor. And now it is in here that we're going to close the transfer station or they want to close the transfer station. They've made that As part of their budget, we cannot increase the budget. I am appalled that you would make such a suggestion without coming to the town council first. Or at least something from your department to the town council letting us know that you were going to make a policy decision without us.

The chair, if I may, the council has the opportunity to discuss that. Now we have the opportunity to send budgets back to the board of finance and berating. Town staff at any meeting is not appropriate ever and this is the 2nd time we've done it.

Oh, I have every right to speak my piece.

Is that it? For now. Any other comments or questions regarding the budgets?

Mr. Chair, are we talking about all the budgets or are we just on that?

We can do a general government first.

Okay. I move to approve a revised fiscal year 2026-2027 town general government budget in the amount of 39 sorry 19 million 358 960 dollars second motion made and seconded is there a discussion

The only thing I was going to, I guess there's a few things that bother me is the reduction in the sidewalk. So are we going to make that the people that own the property shovel their sidewalk in front of their homes or businesses? I mean, I know a lot of towns do that and cities definitely do that.

I mean, I think we've heard a lot of Sorry, no, go ahead. No, go ahead. I think we've heard a lot from the public that they don't see that. It's a good idea for the town to continue paying that. I mean, unless a bunch of people start coming forward saying, hey, we love that. I'm doing this. We want to pay for it.

Why was even bringing this up and is, and I don't mean anything harm on this, but the cemetery going around the cemetery and Lakeview cemetery. Who's going to who's going to do that sidewalk?

So some would still stay in right? Dave.

Um, so, if in general, I would say that the policy would go to be, is it always been is the owner the adjacent or so, in your example, Lakeview cemetery, the Lakeview cemetery would be responsible for clearing their walks adjacent to their property. The town would be responsible for clearing the walks adjacent to town property. Individual owners would be responsible for the property adjacent to their own home.

They mow their lawn. No, I know a lot of towns do this. I was just obviously curious on something like that from my example is that.

Yeah, I think so. the council will have to consider an ordinance change and to implement that change in the future. And you'll have to, you'll have some discussion and debate about that. I'm sure you'll hear from residents about that, about their various concerns, but here, whether it's at your next meeting or by August, you'll have an ordinance to look at and start that conversation. We need to make a decision with the community pretty quickly so that they can prepare for the winter. if they're, if that, so that's, you know, how that particular matter would be handled.

I mean, a budget like this is a estimate of what's going to happen in the future. And it's a recommendation, at least in these cases, of what town staff thinks makes sense from the standpoint of fiscal responsibility and everything. With respect to the sidewalks, we've discussed it several times here, and I haven't heard anyone say that we should continue to do something that most towns don't do. And in fact, even in East Hampton, most owners take care of their own sidewalks. It's just a relatively small number. So I think it's appropriate that those things be in the budget and that when we approve the budget, we're, in a sense, incorporating them in the way we think the town should run the next year.

Right. And I think, Jeff, your point, the next year, I mean, these things are fluid. If it goes terribly this year, like, oh, great, this really isn't working, then we talk about it again next year.

of these items you can't once the bell is wrong it can't be on wrong correct but we're talking about sidewalks and with the sidewalks it's on again an ordinance change and does anyone here besides me have an issue with the six hundred thousand dollars when we told them not to use their um fund balance and the budget has gone down twice And instead of looking at any reductions, all they're doing is pulling more money out of the savings account to purchase items that they want. People have voted down these items twice so far. The budget has failed twice. Yet we just, instead of making any reductions, they just have moved more money out of the savings account to pay for these items and to buy down the budget, buy down the mill rate. We went from 400 and something to 600,000.

You're talking about our 12.8 contingency?

No, I'm talking about the $453 from the surplus and the 160 or whatever the other number is. 140. 140. It was in our policy not to do that, and instead of reducing the amount they're using, they're increasing it. We haven't even closed the year yet. It hasn't been already, and they're just spending when these items have already been shot down twice, and they're just circumventing the process and just, okay, we're going to take it out of savings. You didn't give us what we want, so we're going to just find it another way.

Seems to me there's enough money in the surplus fund that the town council to meet town council policy. And so you have extra money and to use that to allow the taxpayers to pay a lower tax is appropriate. To use money that's not been spent in the last year um you know we have the surplus that we want and expect and that is our policy and so why not use that to allow taxpayers to pay less um less money this year and they are one-time expenditures correct yes

I think $800,000 surplus. I don't think we just need it sitting around. I think the residents want their taxes to be lower and they want us to use it on expenses so that their taxes are lower.

Then it should be done in an additional appropriation and ask the taxpayers to approve them.

Have you ever when the Republicans were in charge, did they ever suggest anything remotely like that? Absolutely not. You are suggesting that because you want control of this process.

You know what?

We have not used the fund balance. We're not changing the process just because you want it done this way.

We have not used the fund balance.

This is how the process is done.

And it's a typical Democrat way. Use the fund balance to buy down the budget to make it. And then say you're cutting something and you're doing everything. You're doing it at the behest of the taxpayer. You're doing it to buy down a budget so you get what you want.

Then what are your numbers? What are you cutting out of the budget, Ted, instead? What else do you want to cut out of the budget so we don't have to use that money?

Oh, I would cut most of those things.

What things?

Like, so we have 150,000 dollars in the 6 payment on the floor. Do we even know what the total floor for the middle school is going to be? Are we over funding? Are we under funding? That's payment number 6 on there. There's 150,000 right now. If they came up and said, we need a 100,000 do an appropriation for the 100,000 after the fact once they get a bid done, spend the money that way. Do something responsible instead of just blanketly throwing $150,000 saying, well, we think it's going to be $150,000. It's the sixth and final payment of the sinking fund year. There's $150,000 right there that could come out of it.

But you can't take $150,000. You can't take the whole amount out. Something's going to have to be paid.

That's all. They don't all have to be paid this year, or you can go for an additional appropriation. And right now, the transfer station is absolutely ridiculous that it's in the budget. Absolutely ridiculous. that you're going to close this transfer station without any public input, without anything, you're just going to say, okay, you know what, we got a random letter in the mail, so we're going to all of a sudden close the transfer station and make it private. So then what happens, you know, when our, whatever contract you decide to do with the private company that we haven't gone out to bid, we have no quotes on, we have nothing, and we have a few months to close the transfer station. now you're going to say okay well we do a three-year contract okay what happens in three years now that we've closed our transfer station we can't get it back and now we're at the will of the private entity i don't think that is really an appropriate thing without anyone looking into it and you're going to do it on a whim on a from the board of finance that is nuts

All the question. All the question.

There was no, can I just say one thing? There was nobody. I was here last night. Several of us were here for the board of finance. Many of you were here for the board of finance meeting last night. There was not one person that spoke out against that. Just for your information. We want the people's, we keep saying we want the, to hear from the public and we are hearing from the public. Not one person complained about that. We're trying to find ways to save money. You say it all the time. The public doesn't want this. That's why they keep voting it down. Well, we're stuck here. We have to come up with ways to cut the budget.

Ted, what did you cut?

Fence from station. Less money that the town is spending.

I have a question again for the report.

All the question. Those in favor of the motion to adopt and send. General town, general government budget and the amount of 19,358,960 dollars. Budget referendum town meeting and. Budget referendum aye aye. 6 1. 6 1. Discussion and motion. regarding the Board of Education budget?

I just have something, Mr. Chair. This Smart Start program seems very important to a lot of people. And I've gotten tons of text messages and people stopping me. And this just came out the other day. I guess I'm a little worried about it. I don't know enough about it, so I apologize. Besides what I've obviously probably everybody else has read a little bit. It looks like we do get a grant for part of this. I don't know how much we're saving this and and there's a lot of people that obviously we're counting on this and now we're going to scramble and they're putting a hard spot and I really don't know how much we're saving I honestly don't would be like the superintendent yeah I would I'd love to because somebody can educate me a little bit more on this

Good evening members of the Town Council. So just in terms of the grant and savings, Mr. Fiegel, so the grant itself is $97,000. Okay. Salaries and benefits of the two employees of that program. Yes, there's additional expenditures associated with it. Salaries and benefits, $204,000. potential of revenue through a sliding scale if applied could potentially be upwards of 45 000 but that's not a definite it's just at first glance that's what it appears so the delta between the revenues and the cost of the program is going to exceed 50 000 how many students 18.

How many of those 18 were sent acceptance letters or had the choice between the two programs? And I guess my concern with that is if the program wasn't a definitive, why were they forced to make a decision before you made a decision when the program was going to be held? Because if they got into both Smart Start as a mentor or what have you, how many of those students were there that got into both programs?

Okay.

It's going to be a longer answer, and I'm going to request if I'm able to actually be able to answer this for you. When we sent out the application, the application included a three-part question. Do you wish to participate in the Smart Start? Do you wish to participate in the preschool as a typical peer, which is the special ed program? Or do you wish both? So everybody that would have applied had the ability to apply for either of the three. Actually, two options, but one being both. I did look at those today. I looked at the applications themselves to get an understanding. There are several individuals who did note both. There were some that did not note both, that they just chose one over the other. Information about this goes out January, February is when the communications actually begin. So planning for that program happens very much in advance of the entire process so that we're able to actually do what screenings are necessary, but also to begin mapping out what the program would look like. now comes the next difficult piece and um as a individual had come miss galvin had come here this morning or this evening and shared i concur with her and i will own that in regards to the communications how does the communication not make it until we reach a point of last wednesday evening when we shared with the board of education albeit as mr newsforce says no decision is ever final to the board receives its adopted budget what i shared with the board last wednesday and shared last evening the school year is a month away we have to plan we have to provide communication we don't have a set number we have an estimation of what it may be a reduction that's required but what's also very difficult and this is the it's the challenge that i'm faced with and i'd be very tough and be very honest i don't have the answer for this and i wish that i did We hear members of the community say, don't communicate. We're using systems that we shouldn't be using, which I agree with that. I understand that. There's laws relevant to that. We put out a communication in March prior to the referendum being set. And that communication that went out included what were potential reductions. They've been viewed as these are, you know, failed threats, these are the things that are going to be removed. But the truth is, is we're just trying to inform our community, the residents, that technically, when the initial referendum is set, Those communications are very, very limited because it doesn't matter whether you're saying go out, vote yes, vote no. If there is an implied message that could perhaps cause a person to sway a vote, you have to refrain from using the systems for that. So if a decision referendum comes out, budget fails, We have a very limited window of time legally to be able to put any type of a communication out. And it also has to be something that the board has an opportunity to discuss. So budget failed last Tuesday. We had posted for a board of education meeting. So at least we could be there to communicate. This is what we're talking about. These are the things where these reductions are. Once we had a sense from the board, whether or not there's an appetite for these, and trust me, I don't want to put something out there that ultimately we may need to pivot on. But as I have shared with the board, I share with the board chair, if at the end of the day, a decision is made what's in the best interest of children, the following year, we maybe said, well, you reinstated things, but if it was the right thing to do and the funding was there to be able to do it, to me, what matters most is what we're doing for children. So Wednesday night, determinations made, put together a letter, mailed the letter on Friday. That was the communication that was received directly to those families. They have a right to be upset. We're also a month and a half into the start of the school year. It wasn't that we hadn't communicated what the potential reductions may have been, but direct communication to those families who may not be in Parent Square. Some may have had siblings in it, but not all. So that is something that we have to own. Today's post on Facebook, it's an open communication forum. It's not a parent direct only. That's where that was. We're talking about how better do we communicate? How can we get information out to people? So we're now trying to figure out a way To link people into parents square so that they could potentially get this. My hope is that at some point in time, we have a larger discussion with the town council and the town about a communication system that we can all agree reaches the entire community. But we want to communicate. We're not able to communicate when we do communicate. It's an issue that we're communicating. So it's just, it's a challenge that we are faced with, but I empathize and, and, you know, in terms of. You know, why smart start. Why not another program? Anybody, it's all subjective, but the reality being we have a middle school athletics program that there's been a lot of energy around today. Yesterday it was Smart Start, lots of communications coming in. Today it's the athletics. Both of those programs have tremendous value in the school district. Middle school athletics has over 200 students that are impacted by this. a smaller population for preschool, but it doesn't mean that it's any less important to the families of the students who are in that program. That's tremendously important to them. And the science and the research, as was stated last night, not by me, I'm not here to pontificate on science, but there were families that said there is science and research that supports early childhood. there's studies that are showing that keeping students engaged in school and middle school is also important to get them on a track that could lead to success for middle or for middle school for high school so we were in in a moment to have to decide what is it that we're going to do to start the school year off we don't have a lot of time before that school year begins I know it's a lot to share there's so much more to share in regards to it but that's

But how many of them rejected the preschool program and elected Smart Start instead? You know, I understand there's a lot that chose both, but how many, because you asked them to choose if they got into both, how many chose Smart Start over the

Uh, the regular preschool program, I wish, you know, I don't want to misquote myself on this. I would just the way I looked at it. Ted is there are 18. Families who are in that program max capacity of what we would put into that program. Those families are ran, I did not get a sense today that there is a waiting list per se. Um, the other program that we have, there's a, it's a special education program, but it has what are called typical peers in that program of which that's an option. But families, some families don't request that because the smart start program is 5 days. 5 full days. The other program is a half-day program and it's three days of the week. So sometimes parent schedules, programming needs, it shifts based on the interest, but I can't give you exact numbers of who it is. What I can share with you is that I don't believe that there's a waiting list for the Smart Start program, but we do have a waiting list for the four-year-old program for peer buddies, but not for the three-year-old program for peer buddies. Does that help?

It's complicated and I, yeah. Student is a good chunk of change. When you're looking at middle school sports, it's the same thing.

And you know, my response to you is it's worth every penny of it. But in both cases, in both, I think, in all these circumstances, I don't want to cut any of this.

That's not desired.

This was not anything that we would have wanted to happen for any of our students, regardless of the program that they're being served by.

And if I may, you have high school students who are in a very similar situation. They have electives that they were looking Ted, do you have something better to do right now?

Yeah, I was too. I was figuring out the possible. So you know what? Just just stop.

Your phone the entire meeting. Okay. We have high school students who chose their electives. Based on their interest, and they're going to our high school because they had that interest. Some of them gave up. Electives are gone. So I know it's not something people feel that preschool may be more important than off electives. But those high school students are just as disappointed that their electives are no longer here. And the middle school students with their sports.

And to the same point, I understand that. But you could go home today and not have a job, too. And you got to pivot. You know what? And so things happen in life.

And thank you. That's a concern that we have even with running revenue structures for school districts. There are always life changing circumstances. make a projection of revenues such as the smart side this is exactly how much we're going to receive there isn't a guarantee of that there could be a life circumstance that changes for that family a month in but committing the dollars because once the program is up and running you can't just take it away because all of a sudden you may have family life circumstances of which they can no longer either afford it or be able to continue in the program itself We try to do the best we can to make estimations, but it's not a perfect science.

Mr. Shaikh, can I just ask two quick questions? It's fantastic. I believe Parent Square is now open to everybody. Am I wrong?

So we got ParentSquare is open to everyone. I feel like today's conversation with my IT department is I'd love to be able to just get QR codes and post them in the library, put them in the scene center, just so that people know you can link onto it to utilize the system, but always know that the municipal communication system has to be determined by the municipality the way that the law reads so even though we have a parent square system we can utilize it really once those referendums begin it's you're you're not supposed to you know even the date place and time which i think we've always gone under the notion of it's okay because all we're doing is sharing even that in itself uh is is in question uh my my second question is uh

Just because we spoke about both of these, the Smart Start program and the middle school for sports.

Middle school orthotics.

Both of these, one word is, I don't want to say written in stone. I mean, if this goes through, are they definitely gone or is there something we can do down the road to look at different things?

So if the council, well, we've gone off of the 600,000. It is included in that 600,000. If that variable changes, then anything is possible. To pick one program over another creates yet.

It's secondary.

Secondary is why are you gonna choose this over another one? But we are making the plans for a school year that's starting a little over a month from now. in order to even operate the middle school athletics program. And I don't know what date everybody's looking at for the referendum. We would have already had to add schedules, transportation, students have to have physicals to be able to participate in it, they have to be screened. We could not get this off of the ground by the middle of August to start the school year with the athletics. Does it mean it can't start at a later date There always is the potential, but once again, the figure that we're talking about, that dollar amount, and I'm not looking to sway anybody either way, obviously I have my feelings of what we would like to see, but the reality is, is those are the determined factors right now that we have put forth. And I know it's been stated that, well, they say this, they don't do it. If you looked at the flyer from the last year, the communication, very similar to this year, it aligns. Those reductions were experienced by the district. These reductions, I'm sure Kohler shared these at the last Board of Education meeting. These are those reductions that we have shared. We did make one shift in one of them. We're not going to move forward with a science teacher at the high school. It's going to be an ELA teacher that's based on course enrollments. and then there was a reduction in administrative position which i vocalized to you all i still don't support or believe in because of the needs of the schools but clearly there was a lot articulated in the community that were heavy on the administration i can feel very differently about it a reduction was made from a 12-month position to a 10-month for memorial school but it was a an additional reduction that was not on that list that now exists on that list

Nobody's lost a position. Nobody's lost a job.

That is not. So I.

Or am I wrong? I don't know. I guess I'm asking the question.

So Mr. Nusforo mentioned about retirements. We don't do anything about the retirements. I can tell you we did do a retirement this year in the hopes of we did do a program to see if there were those that would retire. When you have situations like that, what happens is this. You are cutting. When we say we're going to eliminate the Smart Start program, there are two FTEs associated with the program. Those two FTEs are reduced. If there are vacancies that those people could go into, there are budgeted amounts in those vacancies, perhaps their salaries may be more or less. That creates yet a further construct in an alpha and a delta that gets into finances. I know you would be able to understand that. but the reality is the positions are lost. At this point in time, based on vacancies, I would have to go back and see, did everybody that was planning to have employment, are they continuing employment? But it does not mean that positions weren't reduced if they landed back into vacancies. So let me give you an example. The teacher who is teaching that program We have a special education vacancy at that school. We'll back into the special education vacancy in that school. That is a grant-funded position, does not cover the entirety of the grant, does not cover the entirety of that position. However, that person will back into a position that is vacant. We have multiple classified positions. We struggle to find paraeducators. It's a very challenging role. The market is not great for that. There are vacancies that we have. So the person who has that position will be in a position that is in the budget that was already budgeted that we did not slate for reduction. Just because there's a vacancy doesn't necessarily mean that that means we can just remove it. There are needs of those in there. It's complex to explain. And there have been last year, we had faculty and staff members that did not have positions back in the district. We're still a few weeks away from the school year. We have vacancies. There is the potential that individuals who may be in positions that were reduced, for example, the high school position, that position that's being reduced, we have a vacancy at the middle school that that person may go into, but there are some other matters, technicalities as it relates to that, that we have to work through, certification and so forth.

You said the teacher that was doing the Smart Start is going to back into a special ed that's a grant. How long is that grant position allocated? Is that a one-year grant? So are we going to end up with that position In year 2, when does the grant leave for that?

I think it's fair because I know you've gone through everything you have with the answer and the art funds and the worry that we put these positions in. They were covered. So that is a year to year. That's the seed, the special education and expansion development grant. That was granted last. This past year was initial year of that grant, and we actually didn't actually receive the funds to that till after the school year begun. That's a year to year according to the legislature. That's going to be an entitlement grant for the future. But with any grant, you don't know whether or not there's a continuation of what they say they're going to be. Smart Start grant, for example, that Smart Start grant that we had. had remained the same amount for a number of years, even though everything else changes with the costs associated with the program, grant doesn't change. This year we're fortunate, it's going up to $97,000. Is there a guarantee that that's gonna, we don't get the grant award notification till after or the latter part of the legislative season whether or not we're going to be able to receive that grant but we viewed it as an entitlement grant we've been getting it why would it be removed but you never know until the legislative session is concluded and the final budgets have been put forth so is the special ed at least how much is the special 89 000. so we're still there's a delta Okay. But you know that in our budget every year, we have a turnover factor that we budgeted.

I was just wondering if the grants were apple-staple. They're not.

Mr. Chair, if I may, I'd like to make a motion. I will say that I don't like how much we've had to cut the education budget, but given our referendum results, this is where we are. So, I'd like to make a motion to approved the revised fiscal year 2627 board of education budget, and the amount of 39,550,937 dollars. Motion made and seconded to approve a revised fiscal year 2026 2027 board of education budget and the amount of 39,550,937 dollars.

Is there any further discussion on the matter? If not, those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Abstain?

Great. Very good.

The third item on the agenda To establish and set the date of the town meeting.

And the referee, I have to do that.

We don't have to do anything with the capital.

There was no change to the capital budget. Only the transfer from the general fund. I mean, unless you want to talk about the capital budget adjustments, but.

We'll make a motion to set the budget town meeting for. Wednesday, July 29th, beginning at 3.30 p.m. Do you want me to do both? And to set the budget referendum for Wednesday, August 5th, 2026, between the hours of 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. here at Town Hall.

Motion made. Second? Seconded. Any discussion on the matter? If not, those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, nay. Our meeting will be July 29th at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. And understand, no action is taken by the town. It's a pass-through. It goes directly to . And the referendum will be held on Wednesday, August 5th.

make a motion to adjourn motion made and seconded to adjourn this special meeting of town council those in favor signify by saying aye aye opposed nay they're adjourned that's just the it's just the pass through where they read the thing and say we're adjourning this meeting to referendum there's no public comment nothing happens we don't do anything It's a formality.