Budget Committee - Regular Meeting

7 o'clock. So, I'll at least call everything to order. All right, let's do the pledge of allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

There is no one from the public here, so we can skip the comments. And so we'll get on to new committee business. Uh Patrick LLZ has resigned sadly. Um and so we are going to need another member of the board. Um applications are due what end of next week? No. Applications will be posted on the website and on social media on Tuesday and be published in the newspaper on uh Thursday. Okay. And then it's open for two weeks after that. Okay. So the application period I believe that is I texted this to somebody. We already have people asking about it. So good.

So Tuesday is the 21st and two weeks after that is Saturday May 5th. Yeah. Yep. And so it's two weeks after it goes in the newspaper. Oh okay. So it's closing on May 7th. Okay. May 7th. Yep. And that will do the council interviews on May 18th for that's interviews and appointment and then so you'll have a new member ready to go for the 21st. Okay. So, that is the schedule for that. I'm posting that in Southern New Hampshire Planning Commission renewals. Um, will we be there for the 18th meeting, the town council? Uh, you can certainly go to the meeting and voice your opinion if you would like. Um, I'm sure the town council would be willing to um hear our opinions on things. Um,

that is entirely up to their discretion. So, yeah, you can ask them, but like it is for appointments. It's I just I've dealt with this with other positions recently. Okay. The appointing authority gets to decide. They have 100% discretion over whether they hear any other input or not. So, it's that's conversation you guys would want to and they uh applications are always posted as part of the town council agenda the week before. So, you can at least read everybody's applications and shoot an email over to the town council um with your thoughts. Um so, that's always that you absolutely can.

Everybody can also anybody can do that. So, yeah, if you have thoughts on who you think would make be a good person, by all means, please let them know. So, Um, okay. And thank you, Patrick, if you watch any of these videos for all the work that you did over the last year. Um, okay. So, the next uh item is uh we've had our first meeting on the strategic plan. Um, so our the strategic plan is related to budgeting. You know, the vision for the town. Um it's it's something that is trying to help people who work for London Dairy kind of organize where we want to spend our energy and our efforts um not just you know with our roles but also financially as well and that's where we come in um from the budget committee perspective. Um so we have these uh functional areas governor government excellence digital service and fiscal stewardship communication civic trust and community engagement growth land use housing and economic vitality infrastructure transportation and asset management environment water and conservation public safety emergency preparedness and municipal resilience and community character recreation and arts and culture. And these categories came from meetings with departments, people from the community. Um they got input from everybody on what was really important to them. Um and they came up based off of all of the contributions. These were the big things that came big themes that came out for that. Um so under government excellence, digital stewardship and fiscal stu uh there was nothing I believe on budget committee for this one.

Not a lot on this one, although there's a lot of things. So, just to give you some context of where we are in the process on this. So, this is in front of the council for workshops right now where they're having it presented to them and they're asking questions and boards and leadership are having a chance to weigh in. Yes. Um and explain where it came from. Kate spoke at the last one

and from there the council will think about what they really want to sign on because this is gathered from input from a bunch of different stakeholders in town. But it really is the council's the the legislative body strategic plan to move forward with. So once they hear all the input, they'll say yes, move forward this, don't move forward that. So some of these things will um come out possibly some things might be added or modified. There's a lot of work that's still going to be done. Okay. The idea being that then this once they give their input, they'll likely talk about it again on May 4th at their meeting and then at May 4th, uh they'll move it to a public hearing on May 18th where um the public will be able to weigh in one more time on it. They can still weigh in right now via email, via form, via phone call,

carrier pigeon if you get one. Um and then we'll take all of that together and put that together at that public hearing and hopefully the council will then put this forward as their plan with their priorities um emphasizing what they would like to do. So you know this first one the high performing government. So to that point some of these things require money. Yep. And so it's up to the council to decide where this fall where the things that require funds fall in there. One thing you will note is that a lot of these things are come up. A lot of these KPIs are come up with a plan on how to Yes. because there's a lot of data that we need to gather in order to be able to move forward with the broader objectives. Right. The plan for the plan.

Exactly. The road map. We are going to road map how we're going to do this and that's where I'm Yeah. So some of your stuff made in here verbatim. Yeah. No, thank you. But I just want to say um well in a sec of that but this is just phenomenal work that you that you put together being in the town for um a number of years I haven't seen something this organized. Oh thank you. It was a group effort and we really worked and putting it there in front of the eyes of the council and hopefully they you know don't one you don't want them to bite off more than they can chew. Yeah. But you also want them to realize that they don't need to bite off everything. Yeah. Um so,

and you know, I think as you move through the conversations with us, you'll see a lot of these things are things that we had on the plate anyway that have to be done anyway. And it it just it also putting in the strategic plan brings the progress on it front and center for transparency. And that's something I really love because there's going to be status reports posted on all these things. Yep. So, this one is mostly about um SOPs, putting things together, how we do things, and making sure we're able to keep doing things no matter what. And here's the one that really lands on y'all, which is improve long range financial planning and budget transparency. So, Kate, take it away.

Yeah. So, this one is um you know, we want to implement a multi-year strategic budgeting framework uh you know, departmental priorities, capital reserves, fund balance, all these fun sorts of things. Um, a lot of these things are stuff that we're kind of doing in part but not in whole. Um, you know, so road part these these the priority action items are roadmap replacement of the town ERP. So again, um, the $350,000 in funding to the fund balance was not approved. Um, but we do need a new ERP at some point. So figuring out what that looks like is a priority. um modernizing charts of accounts to comply with New Hampshire DRRA administrative rules, updating and maintaining the fund balance and debt management policies, and align capital reserve funding with the master plan and departmental strategic plans. Create resident facing budget tools such as a glossery, budget simulator, educational content, and short budget briefings. This is where we're going to probably come in. Not probably we will uh train departments, budget committee and town council to build multi-year budget requests using data performance indicators and capital planning assumptions uh and explore strategic and priority based budget model. Um so things that really um involve us are things like public facing budget education program in place by September 30th of next year. Increasing deliberative session attendance by 15% is something we would certainly contribute to. Holding at least three strategic budgeting workshops and trainings is something we would certainly get involved with. Um, you know, these are really critical things. Um, I spoke on the deliberative session attendance by 15%. Um, I think that was one of the ones that Patrick was and I were pretty passionate about was getting more people involved in the budgeting process. Um, and I mentioned there that um, one of the reasons I I attend and my husband doesn't attend is because of childare. Um, and Doug Cole, who runs the recreation department, approached me at the end of the meeting and was like, "Hey, what if I go to the gym with all

of the kids and we play like dodgeball or something like we can get the recreation committee involved and all these other sorts of things." And I was like, "That's a great idea." Um, and so, you know, just making things more accessible for people, making things clear. So, you know, I one of the things that I also mentioned um is seven hours of dodgeball. I mean, sorry other thing too story time. They

usually do like a like the towns I worked in, they did like a morning, they do like a 9 to 12 hoping that it wouldn't talk about ways of potentially shortening the deliberative session as well. So, what can we do to make it shorter? um because you can't expect a ton of attendance for these long seven-hour all day meetings on a Saturday. Um so what can we do to reduce how long it takes um and those sorts of things as well? And part of that is um I was thinking about a voter guide. And so when we all vote on the warrant articles and things like that, it might be a great idea as we go through the list for if you are in favor of it or if you're against it, each you know person uh votes or writes does a little write up about why they were for or against it. Yep. So if it's, you know, you three are for something and Nicole and I are against it, I could write for the against. Jeff, you could write for the four. And then that would be the budget committee's perspective on why you should or shouldn't vote for something. And it gives people, you know, a little bit of a a background on why something is a yay or a nay. And and then they don't see the 32 or or rather like a 34 because we're seven. A 34 vote on something and go, "Well, why was it 34? Here's your reason why. Here's why we voted this way." Um, and I think that would be helpful. So

I agree. And I think if I could just add, I think part of that that would be really useful would be also like a vast simplification like the layman's term version of what this warrant article really means. And it is so save people a lot of I'm trying to hide. THERE WE GO. ALL RIGHT. Exactly what text synopsis for warrant articles including education materials are legally appropriate. Yes. And we actually have a lot of legal we because we aren't paid by the town to do anything. So we can advocate for warrant articles or against warrant articles. Correct.

You can. Yes. Yes. Exactly. So, um there's there's some stuff there that's that's pretty great. Um and the need for that became really obvious to me when I was actually in line to vote. Just a quick note. There was a woman behind me and a woman in front of me and we all started chatting and they were like, I couldn't find any information or I don't know. I don't even know what this is about. And literally I was giving them like a quick blurb. I'm like, oh, I'm on the budget committee. Let me tell you. But it was a perfect example for people who were and they admitted they didn't have time to deal with it until like the night before and they were just looking for like a quick explanation and they didn't have that. So um to give an idea from timeline actually our deputy town manager Kelly Karen had a good idea to

these should be incorporated from the inception of the warrant articles not when the warrant is complete and decided on. So throughout the whole budget process we present and this is why one of the um KPIs 100% of war articles have explainer text accompanying them. So as they come up during the budget season our goal is to create that pl that um kind of explainer language. We're kind of moving away from plain language because it's not there is language that's legally required, but explaining the purpose, the intent, and what it does in language that people can understand and know if they're not living inside this

very specific context that we live in. So, this is another example of how these um this is the second um this is the second area, the second functional area, communication, civic trust and community engagement. And this is a great example about how these objectives are arranged by functional area and not by specific like board or department, right? And so that's why you're going to see as we move through this budget committees in you're in almost not all of them but you're in most of these board sections because so much has a fiscal component that you would either be likely invited to consult on or appine on or be taking you should know what's going on because it's going to have an impact on the work you do during budget season.

Yep. So yeah. So I can scan back up there. So in case there's anything else you want to cover up here in this one. I think I was good with that one. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. And then down below, one of the other things that I thought of too on the the next one down is uh the youth engagement. Um one of the things that I Yeah, that one

that I was thinking about uh with schoolbased outreach initiatives is it might be a great idea for um the budget committee to maybe talk to like high school seniors. I know they have like some what's it called? It's not it's like a contemporary issues type class. um where these are people who are very politically involved and we talk to them about the importance of um voting in their local communities and why it's important, how these things affect them, what the warrant articles mean and you know trying to increase voter engagement from the high school perspective. That's a phenomenal it's a really good idea. Um and the reason because

it's it's so complex. Yes. like you you know their frame of reference is national elections and potentially state local elections are so complex you know just by nature of the environment there's no there's no real media coverage there's no real um you kind of yep you all all of it that goes into a national election right so having more civic engagement by town volunteers is probably the best way to go, especially in, you know, with the budget committee leading the way.

Yep. Yeah. And, you know, when I was a teenager, I didn't pay any attention to local politics at all. I had no idea who they were, why it was important or anything like that. I had no idea. I mean, I didn't pay property taxes. I had no idea how property taxes worked and things like that. But, wouldn't it be nice to, you know, you pay property taxes, here's where all of it goes. You know, this is what this pays for, you know, that type of thing. Um, and so you didn't pay attention

on a local level. No, I was very involved like in national But everyone else did, right? Or or my funny story is that I registered, if you look at my voting record card, my initial voter registration here in London, it was the March election my senior year of high school. So I turned 18 in December. And if you registered to if you were going to vote, you got to leave whatever class you wanted to go vote. So I register I voted my first election I ever voted in was a town of London and municipal election my senior year of high school. So that's my fun story there. I'm from um Ba. So I so I knew all of the select men that were all of Oh yeah. Good sense, huh?

But yeah, that's okay. It's understanding the importance of why local government matters and those types of things. So yeah. Uh so okay. All right. And then keep going down. So this is more development review. There's not this. And this section is actually probably the one that you are least involved in. Yeah. That that Jeff kind of owns, but you are least involved in for better or worse. Jeff, although this one right here, let's stop on this one. Kate, you might want to talk about this one because I think you do have a role in here.

We do. We're right there. Uh, so enhanced economic development opportunities to strengthen Legendary's economic identity. So, this is all about supporting local business growth. um you know attracting businesses that we actually want to come to London Dairy, those kinds of things, outreach materials, being strategic about what kind of businesses we want to you know come here and those sorts of things. Um and so yeah that business priorities and industries that would be attractive and beneficial for use. Yeah, that that certainly would be in there too. So yeah. So yeah, this is a really this is kind of a big this is one of those areas that's both technical and creative. And so it's a really interesting if you look at this and in my humble opinion those areas are the most fun to work in.

Yeah. Because you get all kinds of different brains working together to create something really cool. And so but this has been something that Kate had been a very big driver behind is this conversations about who do we bring in here? Y and Kate has repeatedly brought up you guys know revenue let's talk about revenue so bringing revenue into the conversation and making it a priority that is where that came from and so ah okay definitely

to give you an idea moving forward um the next four we have the broad objectives up here I'm still finishing the documents not that one apologies so some of the wording got tweaked between the final versions but nothing substantive. So the next area infrastructure, transportation and asset management.

Um this is all about uh there is a component here because it talks about the deferred the lifestyle cycles, maintenance plans, how we predict the length of our assets and this is one of the things we're going to be talking about how long we can have them how we protect them. All those things are very important. And I joke around that this is the Dave Wallally show, but it's not just the Dave made it yellow because red and blue follow yellow. It's it's even orange on the final draft. But that would be the but that's also the importance of an ERP, right? Yes. And having

Yeah. So we we're we're trucking through our open gov implementation for asset management. Um, but linking that to the ERP for depreciation schedules and everything is in is crucially important to not have to try and do that on with an abacus because that's basically the technology level we're at right now with it. Um, and how old is abacus? No, I mean like the bead type like like the I don't know when did it when was it created in ancient China? I don't know. Long time ago. So before the internet just slightly a little.

Um so yeah and then it's traffic safety and congestion and that's one of those ones that where action is going to you know a the action that is needed is going to guide the budget but there is an there is an interaction there. It doesn't start with budget. It starts with issue and Sean knows way more about that. So I'll let him talk about that. Um, and then utilities waste and energy resilience strategy. One of the, and it's interesting, and I'm just saying this in a budget committee meeting, so it's on the record somewhere. One of the best ways to reduce our costs for trash, which is one of our biggest expenses and our most consistent expenses in town, is to reduce the weight of what we throw away. Yes. Because we pay by tonnage

and food waste is one of the heaviest things in there. Right. So this is not just there's an environmental component but there's also a fiscal component to this as well. Then of course moving through environment, water and conservation. Your preview of this is water systems. Um, this is one that like the language from here shifted a little when I did the final draft of it towards talking more about like water extensions and protecting drinking water. Um, rather than just figuring out where the contamination comes from because spoiler alert, we know that um land and public stewardship of resources and um that also has a significant component because the only way you're going to protect land area is own it.

Is to own it. Own easements and economic incentives to keep open space current use. So that is all has a financial impact if not a financial impetus. Um then public safety y a lot of this public safety is planning at this stage. So you're going to see a lot but coming up with an emergency operations plan that is not something you do with no cost either, right? um that environment and coming up with a new emergency operations plan which we definitely need to update. Um that you know if the council puts that forward as a priority that's going to be something we need to look at how we do that.

There's a there emergency operation plan there are grants available for grants. Yeah. Yeah. So and then the last one is I send the meeting this is where the community votes with their feet. It's where they show up. It's where they choose to spend their free time and it's what keeps them in Londereerry rather than moving to Lichfield or Marramac or Windham the community character recreation arts and culture

and how do we integrate this and how do we emphasize it so expand inclusive programming broadening year-round offerings programs for underserved age groups um and this is something where um I'm excited for you to hear the recreation department talk about this because the way they use the recreation involving fund a lot of this is self- sustaining. Um, and there's some really great our arts council is probably one of our preeminent committees in terms of being able to manage their fundraising and they're it's just great. So, improve recreation facilities policies, user experience, that's more of managing resources. There's not a lot that that's more building processes.

But then heritage strength and placemaking, clarify, town design, identity, um heritage history, where are we putting, you know, what are we choosing to fund? What are we not choosing to fund? Um what are our priorities? What's our grant strategy? And grant strategy would be something that I think that um the budget committee hasn't historically taken a significant role in. Y but could be something that in the future, if you so choose to do it, could be really useful. So yeah, like if we hire a grant writer, their salary could cover itself and then some. You know what I mean? That type of thing. This guy's got some experience with that. Oh, okay. So yeah. Awesome. HIRED. Oh man.

So with that, do you guys have any other questions for me on strategic plan? I'm going to turn you over to Sean who's very capable hands and next strategic planning meeting is on the 22nd at 6 Hill conference. Right. So and the public hearing will be on the 18th. May 18th. Yep. As of right now. Um, the last thing I just want to say is that Sean doesn't can't talk about you all have NHMA login now. Um, you might if you haven't gotten your email yet, you should soon. Andrea, I think I pulled your account over. Oh, okay. I think they just kept your same one probably,

but updated your email, so you might need to log back in. If you have any issues or you don't get your email for it, let me know and I'll send you the instructions. But that's how you can go in. You can view all the financial planning webinars in there. There's so many. Um, and if you do want to sign up for the thing that K talk about later. Yep. There's a virtual option that's I think free and then there's an inerson option. Yes. And I'll talk about that in person option. It's on my notes, too. Uh, hit up Tanya and she'll get you registered. So, thanks. Got anything good? All right. Excellent work. Yeah. Thank you very much. Have a good night, guys. 14-year-old 14-year-old to find.

Okay. So that closed out strategic plan. Um and then the next on the agenda was discussion on creation of bylaws and rules of procedures, roles and responsibilities for positions, our responsibilities in the town or other discussion points around that. Um, I was thinking that rather than have a a severe a really big in-depth conversation right now because we barely done any research on it, it would be great if somebody could um head this up and start pulling um bylaws, rules, procedure, other things that maybe other budget committees in other localities have and taking from that and seeing if that's something that we might be interested in implementing. So, I can do that.

Oh, that'd be great. Thank you. So, Rebecca's gonna take that on. Awesome. Okay. Um, uh, on the 15th, I have a meeting with Sean, Ron, uh, probably Bob Slater, a bunch of other folks, uh, from the town to discuss how we want to implement the budget for fiscal year 28. Um, when I go to that meeting, is there anything that you would like me to bring to that? Um, if you don't know it now, we can you can certainly send me an email and I'll make sure to bring it up. Um, but I did want to mention that to everybody. Um, because when we come back on the 21st, um, I can tell you what we all talked about and what that how that went. So, um, does anybody have anything now? Um, otherwise you can just shoot me over an email.

So, sorry Kate, just to make sure I understand that meeting, it's a meeting about the meetings. So, it's a meeting about like how the season will go, how I want to do it, how to be informed and all of that stuff. Okay. Okay. Yep. Yep. Okay.

Yes. All right. Well, I can tell you one thing now really quickly, but I mean I've said it before actually to you directly, so it's probably not new. Um, but just the idea that we that we somehow extract the budget process out of what I would call a regular town council meeting. So, sorry, let me let me say that again because we know that they still have to hear all of that. I think ideally the people who are presenting budget information don't have to present it over and over again. Although I don't know maybe it works out that way but but I also don't think the budget committee should sort of be whole be

have to be in these very long town council meetings during budget season. So if there's a way that we can or even if we just dedicated the meeting like it doesn't matter if town council is necessarily with us in my opinion sometimes they ask things and want to talk about things that maybe I wouldn't have asked. Yep. It is also sometimes why the meeting's so long. So yeah, you know, but just that general I don't have a perfect answer. I'll I'll think more about it. But

yeah, I understand if the town council is reluctant to separate the two because you know they want to be there. They want to hear it. It could be certainly be a you know we they kick off the meeting and then the budget committee immediately starts their meeting um and we have a set agenda with time. So we know you know 7:15 7:30 7:45 and then 8:00 we have these four departments that we're going to hear from. They've got their 15 minutes to present or 10 minutes to present and then we can ask them questions. Um but that keeps everything pretty I think structured pretty well. um putting putting times on an agenda item in and of itself I think would help significantly on keeping people on track um you know I know you can't do things like that with public comment as an example um but other things and what the town presents to us and how long they get to present um we certainly can put barriers on that so

yeah because the Saturday where we ca all came in here y and there was like a set agenda agenda. Yep. For the presentations. I found that that to be pretty effective.

That was great. Yeah. And I think that um you know, if we can do something like that and pull that meeting in earlier, too, so that way we have more time to maybe work with the different departments outside of the town council and then represent it to them, that might be okay. Um I think we have some really strong people on the committee. Um and sitting in those meetings for five to six hours. I I don't know about everybody else's job, but I sit in meetings all day and then I sit in a six-hour meeting every Monday from like November to January. So meeting, so anything we can do to shorten that, it would be excellent. So that's what I'm thinking.

Well, even just um the the length of it, you know, is definitely something to tackle, but also ensuring that we have the brain power to tackle it. Yes. and just, you know, having it, you know, whatever, you know, can be thought through on in how to do that. And I, Nicole, I think I do like your I I like the idea of, um, you know, separating them to, you know, where we where it's feasible to do so. Um, now it's going to be probably a large change for the town

because, you know, for years there it's just, you know, it's been the same thing. But that's just change management. Um but it's so it it'll be interesting to kind of see how that you know what that response would be. Yeah. Um if we package it as you know what we're trying to do is get the right information at the right time so we can make the right decisions. Yep. Um you know that's definitely a good strategy to take. Um, the school the school seemed to have it. The school one was was a lot easier to digest. They were certainly easier. Very organized and pretty quick, I thought.

Yeah, because we went over the different departments and I think we never were in a meeting beyond I want to say 9 at the latest. It wasn't as brutal. Oh, they all started at seven. Same exact time as the town council meetings, but they were significantly shorter. So, I whatever they're doing um is is just it's it's faster, it's quicker, it's more efficient. Um and I would like to see the town get to that. Um because it's um it's a there's a lot of stuff that we don't need to be there for, right? Um and that's yeah hard. And if they push back hard on the, you know, keeping everything in the town council meeting or whatever, I mean, they could simply shift everything. All the budget stuff is first like every time

and then you would have the opportunity to leave. that would be better too. It would be a compromise anyway. Yeah. And the other thing is I mean I don't know how this gets implemented in a way that doesn't feel offensive to someone but people need to stay on task. Like I just think it's like Yeah. Right. So, I think a lot of a lot of what makes some of the very long meetings long is just tangents that go too far and somebody needs to be responsible to like reel people back to what we're talking about. Um, again, I don't have the answer. I don't know if that's a chairman or Yeah. Yeah. So, we so we kind of we need a little more of that, I think.

Okay. Yeah. So I think it's a what I would um if you could bring it to the leadership and Nicole you can say it's from Nicole that'd be great actually um if you could like more structure. So, if we're going to have departments, you know, suggest a 5 to 10 minute presentation, you know, hitting on topics on specific topics. Um, again, I think last meeting we talked about we don't necessarily need to know what they've done, etc. It's great. You know, definitely want to celebrate the great work that they do. Y,

so we keep them. And then five minutes, 5 to 10 minutes for the town council to ask pointed questions. 5 to 10 minutes for the budget committee to ask Yep. you have pointed questions. Yep. Um so right there that's 30 minutes per department. Y um I think being as structured like that y might paint the picture that it's like oh okay that's that's something.

Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. And and and I'm thinking one of I actually talked to Cher about this too about you know the the department's mind talking about all their accomplishments and things they've achieved. I think that is excellent. I think um that's a great thing to take to the town council off budget season like in the spring summer they can talk about all their accomplishments over the last year or so. So that way it doesn't need to get presented during budget season and because they feel that's their only time they get to talk to the town council open up that opportunity for them to talk about what it is they do the things they want to accomplish. The strategic plan will help with that because it brings more visibility to those kinds of things. Um but you know that

yeah or even actually Um if they to your point if they do that earlier like the beginning of summer, end of spring next week. Um just kidding. It's supposed to be a part of the strategic plan. That's where you show the status of Exactly. You're absolutely right. It doesn't need to be in there. You people, if you have your own meetings, you'll run circles around them. Yep.

You'll do it in a third of the time that they're able to go over the same budget items. If you have your own meetings, you you have a right to run your own ship and you you will run circles around them. You will get through far more material. It'll be more far more efficient and you will be able to demonstrate how a board can work effectively together. Um that's madness in there. That's not going to change for a while. Run your own ship. You got a good chairperson. You guys will be amazing with this on your own. We have to work a little harder, but I'm not worried about that. My team's committed to that. So, we'll go to we'll present it to them and then we're going to present it to you in a different night. That's how it is done in most of the communities anyway. And you will run circles around them. Yep. All right. Okay. Yeah.

So, let's bring that to run circles around the No, but I get back to that point of digesting the information and it's really better for the public. Yes. When it's digested like that. I agree. Yep. There is so much at every town council meeting. There is. Yep. there. It's It's a lot. Um, and the last one we went to for the year, we didn't get out until almost one o'clock in the morning. Um, I do not want to do that again this year. Were you Did they stop with the budget committee in the beginning of the month? N All right. So, I've never seen them before here. It's a disaster.

That's why I talk to them and say, "Do you'd like to be up front?" I tried to do that. That's right. Run your own ship. You ain't that. We will go to wherever you need us to go. I mean, you you have your own you got you folks are like been some like an add-on function. You're not. You're your own committee. You have your own ability. We do what you tell us to do. We come when you tell us to come and we do it in the way you want us to do it. That's how it's supposed to be. So, I'm looking forward to trying this new model. We'll see how it goes. So, okay. Cool. Kate, when when is that meeting? Sorry, one more. It is on the 15th of May. So, we've got you've got about a month or so to get back to me on Friday. Okay, perfect. Yep. That's okay.

Okay. Uh, next on the list are liaison reports. Um, so we've got school board. Yes. So the school board met um twice since our last meeting. Um, it was a decompression of, you know, of the of past of the past articles. Um, they're definitely they're kicking off. I have my notes. Just bear with me. Okay. Um definitely have, you know, kicking off the um the SAU building um on top of the Yep. I've gotten the email about high schoolers not being able to park over there. They shouldn't have been parking over there in the first place. So, okay.

Yeah. Yeah. No, I that's I mean, you know, high schoolers are high schoolers. They'll figure out where to park. My son complained about it and I was like, "Listen, you shouldn't have been parking there in the first place." Like, "But where am I supposed to park?" I was like, "I don't know. Figure it out. They just don't want to walk. Car pool. It's nice out now. Apple fields are fine. Yeah. Um Yeah. It's a good um you know, it builds builds character. Yeah. Builds character. Um I think we've all had that opportunity to try to figure out where to park in high school.

Um so anyways, the future. I'll have this more ready to go. That's okay. All right. We'll come back to you. I was going to say I can go. Okay. Town council. I spoke with Sean. Um all he really said was doing a quarterly budget. We do a quarterly budget meeting

for uh Monday night. So I will I plan on intending it so kind of you know see you know see the the process there. So um and then that was about it with Shawn um town hall. I talked with Deshan um and we did talk about the SU building um and that you know we talked about um how both how it's funded is the unassigned fine balance for the town and for the school and that there's no tax impact. So yep um and we talked about the expansion of the parking lot back which will be great to accommodate the uh the SAU staff.

Uh we talked about re- roofing the town hall and that will be paid out of the expendable trust fund. So and when is that happening? I didn't know. But we're going to get a price as soon as it's the economy of scale. They're going to be putting a new roof there. So, if we can get them while they deploy out here and and get a a good back, right? Perfect. Uh we talked about digitizing the records, but some of the stuff is like in the strategic plan. So, um and reconfiguring reconfiguring um the building in LA office. So, the flow is better. We did talk a little bit about that. Um

uh we can replace the RP software. So moved to like open gov for potentially you know um really finance and HR and stuff like that. So the processes it's it makes it flow better. Um and we talk about permit fees and the revenue they increase the permit fees. Um it is bringing in revenue. It is paying for the licensing fee to have this permitting system and you'll see I think above and beyond you're going to see revenue with that. So perfect. That's awesome. Cool. And yeah that's it. That's awesome.

Thank you. All right, DPW is me. Um, so DPW said that they are doing okay. Um, they had a tough winter. They were over budget for a little while, but they've been working with the finance director um to bring that back in line and see what they can kind of move around and do about it. So, they're in a better place now. Um, but with all the snow storms that we had, uh, they went over budget on, uh, salts, they went over budget on, um, snow plowing support and those types of things. Um, but that's over now. We're in the clear. They're they're good. Sure. Um they're better. Yeah.

Uh next week the uh DPW working group and uh Dave Wallally and uh James Dennis, they're going to be meeting with um a couple of firms for uh the owners project manager for the potential new DPW facility. Um and so we're I'm on the DPW working group. So when I say we, it's me. Um, so we're we're we're interviewing next week and then um on the 30th of April. So we've got two on the 23rd and then two on the 30th. Um and then we will make our selection um and move forward from there. So we've got four really good firms who we're going to be working with. Um and uh that's very exciting. And uh Dave wanted to say thank you to the budget committee, the town council, the all the town departments who were able to get us back on track in terms of uh truck replacements. Uh we were he had a little bit of a backlog. We really need to replace a lot of them. Um we didn't have to put one on the ballot this year because we're we're good. We're in a better place for that. So um he knows we did a lot of work for that. So we wanted to just acknowledge that and say thank you. Um and then the next one was police. We will need a new liaison for that because Patrick was going to take that on. Um but he has since resigned. So we can either let the new person um take on the police as the liaison um which is fine. Um and I will hold on to it as or unless somebody wants to swap out or I don't know what people thought. All right, they can take on the um but I called uh Chief Bernard yesterday and chat with him about their budget. Um right now they're uh about $600,000 under budget um because they're not fully staffed. Um and that will hopefully some of that will get returned to the town. Um we predict it'll go to the library. Um the library needs the money. Um so it's, you know, on it's a good happen stance. Um but they will be fully staffed, cross your fingers, by July. They've hired three more officers. Um and they have not been fully staffed since 2010.

Wow. So Oh my goodness. Yeah. So they'll finally be fully staffed. Which will be great. Yes. Um, but they're in budget wise they're in they're in really good shape. So, and then CIP. Oh, I skipped fire and CIP. CIP, there's nothing yet. That's a summer thing. So, we haven't formed the CIP committee. We haven't had any meetings. There's there's nothing there yet. Um, but whoever do we do we know who the chair of CIP is or

uh we don't. But there's you know that the CIP submissions are due May 1st. There's going to be a lot more of them. Okay. There's going to be a lot more information to work through and Kelly's working that and the council has to do that. We've got a complicated process by which we point people to CIP which needs to be looked at in the future. But anyway, okay. And the goal is is we want to we want to get to you make the presentations long before the budget. So we're talking about September. We're talking about making C. So we're going to start our budget process in September hopefully with you and the council. That's what I would like to September. So we'll have those done. Hopefully the warn article is done before we even get into the operating budget because we'll still be waiting for our health insurance as you know.

Um and so that way we can knock some of that stuff out and and not be here till we have the warrant. That'd be great. Yeah. So, uh nothing on CF yet but after May 1st. So hopefully maybe next meeting I'll have something for you. Uh fire. Um I have yet to be able to chat with someone. I did leave um Assistant Chief LeBlanc and uh Chief Young. Okay. Um so hopefully in the next couple weeks I can totally fine with them. I know that they're super busy departments. Totally fine. Uh not don't worry about it. So, uh planning board was that Matt? I think Matt had and you're a library. I mean, I could give a I mean

um how's plan board, Jeff? The planner board's great. It's been phenomenal. Um the C town council is going through the PUB ordens right now. So the planning board had three workshops with it. Um council looked at it last week and you know they're kind of somewhat moving forward with it. Um, I think there's a lot of good recommendations and really kind of hopeful that we'll have a, you know, a strengthened PUB that allows us to, you know, either leverage it to its fullest extent or and encourage, you know, the mixeduse.

Yeah. Um, aspect of mix mixed use meaning um, residence, commercial, um, industrial Um and and to also increase our yo tax yep tax base. Um, Woodmont Commons also um presented to the plane board their annual update which is required by um their development agreement

that um pretty much obviously that has said that you know it's been a tax positive. you know, the um it's um the full report and if it makes sense, it might make sense to actually attach that report to the minutes. Okay. Yeah. Um because it does show a lot of good information regarding, you know, the impact of the schools, impact to fire, impact to police, um and how it, you know, how the town responds to it. Okay, great. Thanks. And then library.

Yeah. So on library um I watched the the there was a special meeting which was short but then there was a a long regular meeting. Um I think they're

so I so sorry let me start again. So I think that they're kind of just adjusting to the new the new group. Um I hadn't been following super closely before. So, um I don't have a ton of the background, but what I gleaned from the meeting I watched and you probably know way more than I do, um Sean, but it seems like um so they're still working on of course um the library and and getting getting it sorted out. I heard a lot of discussion about um you know the mold re remediation waiting for various quotes and getting various quotes for for all kinds of fixing um stuff, ceiling tiles, potential roof

stuff. Um um and then also in the meeting though uh what came up was the capital improvement plan. So it looks like some of that work will land in in that plan. Yeah, they they put together a like a little uh table that had kind of here's what we're slating for the capital improvement plan, things like the roof, boilers, stuff like that, uh woodwork and Okay.

Um and then they they have a a list of stuff that's kind of for future budget year. So, stuff we might um keep our eyes on or expect to come up. Things like um table shelves, you know, a TV for something, stuff like that, different doors. um replacing the refrigerator. So um yeah, so there was there was a lot of discussion about all that. And then so let's see, they brought up the capital improvement plan. I already brought that up. Um Friends of the Library, they're looking at summer fundraising, but it's not tied to specific improvements. There weren't a lot of details there. Um and then they approved a number of things. Uh they approved um some electrician services around hanging lights. Uh purchasing a new

um new book trucks and carts. Um I made a donation to Cloud Library for $2,000. And there was a $700 unexpected um expense that I I didn't write down what it actually was, but but anyway, that was approved. Um, and then it looks like they got some money, $2,000 um for uh unanticipated funds like revenue. It was a project grant, community project grant that that they applied for and one that Becca applied for in one. Um, so that's good. They they've gotten a little extra money there.

Um, and that was all I got. Uh, I will say after watching that meeting though, it made me really want to understand all the fixing and costs associated. I mean, I I also heard that they were uh that you're waiting to hear um from the insurance company. Okay. Okay. 323,000. Oh, okay. Really good. I think 136,000. Oh, really? Okay. So, that's fabulous. It's more than fabulous. Yes. Oh, good. Was that your doing? No, no, no. I mean, Tanya, my office, she's the risk manager for the town. Okay.

And uh and Donna, those people deserve the credit for the work that they did on. No, that's that's okay. Yeah. Good. Yeah. So, I'm hoping to for my next update, I'd like to really dig in and better understand like the buckets of fixing and what's actually happening versus what's being considered but might not happen. It wasn't totally clear to me all that. It seems like that's a deep well of information. We got a lot going on over there.

Okay. Thank you. All right. And then before I move on to old committee business, I did want to mention that there is a workshop on the potential workshop. So the the NHMA has its annual budget and finance workshop. It's going to be on September 24th from 9:00 a.m. to 400 p.m. Uh he said it would probably be in conquered um in the NHMA office, but it's still TBD. Um it's $115, but the town will cover that cost for us if we all want if we want to attend. Um and registration will open on August 5th. So, if anybody's interested, please let Sean know or me know either way. Um and uh you guys can all go. I will I'm like 99% sure I'll be able to go. I don't know what I'm doing next week sometimes, but September 24th. Yeah, I can certainly put that in.

And what was the Sorry, what was the date of the Sep It's September 24th. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. So, the day that registration opens in August, I want I want to get ours in first because it fills. Yep. So, you also get mileage reimbursement, by the way, too. And they do provide food there. So, we've been those before. September 24th. Oh, that's a Friday anymore. I don't have a thing for that one. All right, I'll take Oh, it's a Thursday. Okay. Is Sorry. Is that like all day? Yeah. Yeah. 9 to 4. Oh, 9 to4. Thank you. All right. So, take the day off from work. I don't have work.

Well, you was going to ask you about that, too. All right. And then committee business. Um, so our first department tour will be the police station on May 21st. I talked to the when I talked to the chief with the budget, I asked him about this as well. He said he's perfect. He can he has that day available. So that's that works out for us. Um, I was wondering if people might be able to meet a little bit earlier to accommodate that. So could we meet at 6 instead of 7? Um, do the police tour first so Chief Bernard can get home to his family and then we will have a meeting afterwards. Does that work for everybody? Okay.

Yes, ma'am. Perfect. All right. And then goals for fiscal year 2028 budget season. Um, we had talked a little bit about thinking about goals for the budget season. Um, and I just wanted to bring this up because it was one of those things that was mentioned that we wanted to put on the agenda again for this time. Um, I think the strategic plan has a lot of the stuff that we had talked about previously. Um, so I think you know that that aligns pretty well with what's on the strategic plan. So, our our goals essentially are in there. I have a strategic plan,

right? Yeah. So, um but I think one of the big goals I think it sounds like we want to do is separate the budget from the town council meetings at a minimum. See how that goes. Um and then do more outreach with materials and things like that for um the population to really understand what is in the budget, what the war articles are all about, those kinds of things. I think that will be I think that's going to be really important and really helpful. So, y and that would just be us obviously the explanation coming from us. Correct. The council can choose to follow suit if they so choose.

Yeah. So, they vote um on the warrant articles before we do. Um so, they will vote like on that Monday night at that town council meeting and then we will meet that Tuesday afterwards after they vote on the warrant articles and vote ourselves on the warrant articles as part of a separate meeting. Um, when we do that, um, I will ask after every warrant article is voted on, who is willing to volunteer to write their, uh, yay or nay. Um, and then that will get pulled together as part of a like a voter's guide of sorts. Here's where the budget committee voted and why they voted that particular way. Form you going to like Facebook or the Lindere Times kind of get

Yeah. So, it'll be probably PDF. I'll send it to Cheirst. She'll put it on the website. she'll probably things like that. Um if uh the Lenary Times is willing to publish some of that, that that would be excellent. I imagine it would be very long and very expensive to publish it. Um but we can certainly put a QR code that people can scan that takes them to the document. Um so maybe that's something that would be helpful. So um because publishing the whole thing Yeah. that that sounds expensive, especially if we have 34 warrant articles like we had this last this past year.

There wasn't one. Yeah. Um, okay. And then the approval of the minutes from last meeting. Does anybody have any questions or any changes for the minutes before we vote to approve? All right. Uh, so um I motion I will accept a motion to vote to accept the meeting minutes. So move to second. Great. Uh, all in favor of accepting the meeting minutes say I. I.

All right. Passes. All right. The next meeting schedule May 21st. will be our next meeting and then June 18th. So, I put those on there just to make sure nobody had any conflicts on those days if we needed to move things around a little bit. I'm always happy to do that, but those are the next meetings based on our pretty routine schedule. Um, so Kate, um, May 21st, 6 p.m. at at the police station. We'll meet at the police station in the lobby of the police station. Yep. Okay. Thank you. I will not be here June 18th. That is okay. You are free, little birdie.

Yep. Yep. So, what I will do, knowing that you can't be there, um I will book a tour on another day. Um are you going to be gone that whole week or just that day? I will be gone that whole week. Okay. Of June. Yeah.

Cool. Totally fine. So, maybe the week before. Um because I try to I try to do things before school gets out because I know once school gets out with my kids, we we like to go places and do more things and it it's tough. Um we traditionally take the month of July off for budget committee meetings. Um, I'm comfortable doing that this year again. Um, and maybe if we have things that we work on over the summer before we go back to the a uh August meeting because if we are going to meet again in September to do budget presentations, we could work with our liaison and um, you know, work with them on the budget and stuff over the summer independently without needing to meet. Um, and we can do that all on our own time. Um,

I like that idea of having something fruitful come from that time, but like also taking the time away. Yeah, because if they're presenting in September, they're certainly going to be working through the budget in the summer. So, you can work with your department to understand how they're pulling together their budget, what it is they're doing, and just work with them independently. We're all adults, you know, I'm not going to Where's this like Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, this is a volunteer role. It's supposed to be fun. Um, okay. And then there's nobody here from the public, so no public comment. Um, and I will accept a motion to adjurnn. Oh, wait. One more thing.

So, um, I've asked the council to provide guidance at that public hearing, the 18th, after the public hearing, to provide guidance to me as to what they want to see for the budget. Okay? And then we would that same week, we would turn around and we would issue that guidance to all of our staff to start building the budget, which is due at the end of July. Okay? So, um, and I'm suggesting to them that they ask for three budgets, okay? Three versions of the budget. One, a tax cap or CPI budget. What that looks like, um, a level service budget, and then a budget that would have the enhanced services that we're looking for. And then that way you have the options. And if I have my people build it that way from the beginning,

that would be best. Now, that's something you should also think about. I mean, they're they're supposed to provide me guidance. They didn't do that last year. Y but that doesn't mean you can't as a committee. Um because it's a lot easier for me to do that at the beginning when when I issue the direction and put it together in that form. We already we already know how we're going to produce three budgets. They may do something different on the 18th or or do nothing at all. I don't know. But I've asked them to do that. Um but if you want something different in some different formats, the sooner I can get that the better and I can produce a better product for you that you're looking for for presentation. So that's great. Three, three, can you repeat? Um, tax cap.

So my suggestion to them is what a CPI budget would be, which would be something aligned if we had a tax cap, what that would look like, a level services budget provide the same level service that we do now. And then you'd have an enhanced budget that would increase service levels depending upon what it is in different areas. So like the library, if an enhanced service would be like increasing children's programming above what they're doing now or it would be more of like basically the budget that you got from me this last year. Yep. So I'm I'm making decisions about some areas I'm going to allow increases, other areas, no I'm going to focus on this and I'm going to cut that. That's how that would be basically what I gave you. Okay,

that's how it would be. So it wouldn't be each department getting to do that. I would make a lateral decision across the entire budget that I'm presenting because it's my budget that I present to uh the council. Okay. And to you. It's not individual departments. They don't Okay. They present what they want to me, but I'm the one who who submits a budget. That's the way it reads. I see. I see. Okay. So, um that that's and that way if the council gets that in advance and you do at least you have some options y

and I've seen this work quite well in other places and sometimes you get somewhere in between those but at least you have a range of options to look at. It's easier than trying to we we did it on the fly. Oh, go look what $400,000. So now you're sort of running around trying to do that. If we had that at the beginning you had all the options the materials it would be I think better for everybody. Yep. But that I don't know what they're going to do. Okay. But you can decide what you want to do and you can tell us because we do have to listen to you. We produce a product that you need. Yeah. I I like that idea. The idea that we get to kind of pick and choose what that looks like and understand and that gives us more time to understand the tax impact of certain things as well. So

um yeah, and then if we can figure out a tool to allow people to calculate tax impact, that would be neat. So cool. All right. Anything else anybody has before I adjourn? All right, I'll accept a motion to adjurnn. So move. Second. Thank you. All on favor of adjourning. I I All right, this meeting is done at 7:59