Park Commission - Regular Meeting

Commence? Yep. We call the meeting to order at whatever time it is.

My dear one, we have 10 shopping bags laying around here.

The first of all, the meeting is being recorded for future broadcast on McCann. And our first order of business would be to reorganize where the election was on Saturday. Congratulations to Judy. Thank

you. I make a motion

that the chair and the vice

chair stay the same as it is now.

You good with that? I'm good

with that.

Second, third,

all in favor? Aye.

Aye. Excellent. Motion to approve the minutes of the March 11.

I'll make a motion to approve the minutes.

I'll second it. Second. All in favor?

Aye. Aye.

Gets us to the financial report.

Donations, $7,724.41. Revolving, $2,476.51. And superintendent's report. So again, just to give you guys a quick idea of just basically what everybody's up to, Joe has to finish up a there's gotta be, like, a 30 foot flagpole that came to us last year through the veterans who told me to help him out. And he's been grinding, sandblasting the thing, and he's got two coats of paint that we're gonna get on and help the the veterans set set it up.

I think it's gonna end up in John Glassware. This thing is a tank. I don't know how these guys lifted this thing onto the truck. We had some help getting it off. It's been in there. We gotta get it out of there. So he has been slow, but he is, you know, progressing at that. Also, we've got with all of the winds, he's got some other flagpole issues. So we're trying to get all the flags in good shape after a rough winter, and we are attending to one Flag Fold Joe, specifically at Wood Street. The rope let go, tangled the flags.

We have the flag folded and sat down, and our our man, Steve, the veteran's agent, Steve Adelman, from the city of Brockton, might I add. It was city of Brockton. Anyway. According to the town of Overland. Good guy.

So anyway, so Steve is working on getting all of the equipment as you probably get a better chance of, you know, finding Amelia Earhart, this flagpole equipment. So so Joe is doing a great job on that. It's not easy because, again, you can't do it in the gas and electric, you know, saving our tail with helping get get us up high because, you know, none of us would get up on that ladder, you know, for those things. So he's working on a couple of those things. He's also working we're finishing up all the mowers, making sure they're ready.

We're gonna transport, move some of them, and he's gotta finish that up. And he's also turning on all of the water to all the buildings. You know, that's something that I work with. Some of the areas, he just he's just too big to fit into, quite frankly. And so I work with him.

I get into some of those areas, and we're getting all the water back on, you know, for the spring rush. You know, there's gonna be some plumbing issues, and he'll tend to those, and then he's gonna try to get a little bit of vacation, you know, before things get crazy. So ok'd that. Tone, again, I got him to do a vacation swap, so he waited. He's gonna head out a little later, and thank goodness because, again, we had so many trees and branches down.

We just had a I don't know. It gotta be a 40 foot pine tree go down at Oliver Mill. So the DPW came in and saved us with the chipper there. Tom did a great job cutting it up. They loaded on the truck, and again, Tom is stacking all of the wood that we got out of Pratt Farm and all the various parks that we have.

He's got it up high, and he's stacking it and then keeping it dry for the New Year's celebration, which we'll talk about a little later given the fiscal crisis. But, you know, we're still, you know, working at that. We have been working at that. We've got a a great brush pile that he's pushed up and consolidated so that it will burn, you know, as soon as, you know, he's ready to come back from vacation. He's also helping me out.

We had a lot of decorations that were just left under the snow. We've never encountered snow like that since we've had the holiday of lights. And my god, we just somehow just, you know, got busy. And so he come on and helped us inventory and store a lot of the decorations, especially down Baddis. All the whole liner Christmas trees just got in the snow, we just somehow forgot about it.

So, again, I'm glad that he swapped that time for me swapped that time for me. And, you know, again, he's gonna try to get out of here before he comes back and gets all the box raking and a lot of the fertilizer, lime, seed, etcetera, aeration. He did do a great job on this softball field out here putting in more stone dust from the first night celebration. So, again, none of that stone dust that was there that, you know, had the fire set to it is is going to be for the kids to slide when it's been added to and amended and and picked up. And, you know, so he did a great job on that before he left.

Matt is working. We were trying to get a new swing set installed into that playground over at Wood Street. That is something that, you know, we have to finish. Again, sometimes you get punished by doing things in a nickel and dime sense. I'd really like to have just had all the funding to fence it in properly so the kids don't run out, get all the wood chips. We get some wood chips in there. You can't use wood chips that are, you know, out of a some guy's backyard with pine trees. They have to be treated and certified wood chips. So we've got to add that, you know, to that facility. And, again, we're doing all the installation ourselves.

It's not like this playground up here, it is obscene what they charge. It just it everything's obscene, but more so with slides and playground equipment, it's it's crazy. The you know, think you need a 10 foot slide will run you $14,000. So again and and again, no or you could say CP, community preservation money, but no money no town money, no budget money was used also in the installation of this playground thus far. Same thing with the flagpole was donated and installed by us at Wood Street.

Steve, the veteran's agent for Brockton, came down and got that for us for nothing. So Matt has also helped me lay out all of the lacrosse fields. I think we have, you know, six lacrosse fields to lay out in the patterns. We've got baseball and a softball field. Those paint lines have to get down. He's also working with ASAP Engineer, I'm not going to mention that name, in trying to finish up these dugouts. We keep getting put off by completing these dugouts, but by opening softball day we must, you know, finish those dugouts. So he's got everything set and purchased, decking, screws, etcetera. We just have one pole that continue to bend that we have to replace. We waited.

I will do the digging. Matt's smarter than me, so I'll dig it out. We'll get the other pole in, and I'm gonna get help from ASAP Engineering. I'll leave it at that. And, you know, those two have been helping us out. And then, you know, we'll roof it, and, you know, that'll be a great addition, you know, for softball girls to get out of the sun. You know? So, again, he's been helping set that up. He's also working with me to help with the canoe race, helping prep it and the duck race. We already got a lot of the signs up.

Well, on Route 28, we get to sign up, got one at all at Oliver Mill. Still have to we painted the the numbers. He's got put up another one out here. And we've got out you know, I think we got Liz and Karen with the social media. You can see the flyers that we've developed there. So, you know, we're just gonna try to reach out and hope that I've reached out to a sponsor. Hope that, you know, Max Bray comes up with, you know, some help for the police details, which we've already got, you know, for the event. So looking forward to, you know, big turnout. The water is incredible. You know, all of the snow that we had, is going to be high and fast.

There's a good chance for records to be broken because they are gonna scream down that river. It's it's gorgeous, you know, to see all the the reeds and and all of the grass just pushed right down the ribbon, you know, it looks like a big lake. That's great. So excited about the canoe and the duck race. He helped me out with that. He will help me, as will everybody on the staff that day. Again, no overtime. Everybody just do that for nothing. And, you know, we'll conduct the race. He's also working with me to get stone dust over to Oliver Mill that washes away every year.

We put it out before the bridges so that they can make it handicap accessible. People can get out, go across the bridges, look at the fish, look at the water, enjoy the water, and we've got to get stone dust, you know, over there. So we'll ship it over there, put it out by wheelbarrow. Also, there's a lot of washouts along the river. What we do is we just add a ton of stone, so we're making trips back and forth over there with stone, and, you know, that that allows the water to perk and, you know, doesn't erode the banks as much.

So we're just gonna go back over there with some some loam and some fill after, you know, we've we've gotten the holes filled in as best we can. There needs to be some attention there also. You know, there's a big washout along Spring Street. The road itself needs where, again, we had some plug here, face up engineering, but, you know, he looked at it. Rob DeRocha, know, helped us out with, you know, what the issue was over there.

But it's really eroding the banks over at Spring Street. We've we've we've also got a lot of brush left over from the Willow project. We've got to get that out of it, and there's still just a couple big piles of brush, you know, left over from the trees, and I've got to get that out of there before Saturday. Also, you know, we told the tourism, always help them when we can get, you know, 40 chairs over there, rubbish barrels, you know, etcetera. So, again, Matt helping me.

But all those things myself, you know, I've got a meeting with the school superintendent on Thursday and the facility director. We're going to just, you know, pow wow, just meet and see if we can you know, how we can help one another and develop, you know, good contract going forward as we each use each other's fields you and know, we're trying to come together with anything we can do there to help each other, you know, and again, get get through the fiscal crisis. So very happy to meet, you know, with Andy Farley and the new I think he likes to call himself the acting town manager. Acting superintendent? Acting superintendent.

Yeah. Acting superintendent. Mike Perrone. Mike Perrone. You're you're gonna enjoy that. Yeah. I I've heard everything good. And, you know, I'm such a cheap sound gun. I think we've gone, what? I hate to say this on camera, discretion is a better part of valor, but I say, you know, I think we've gone eight or nine months without a superintendent. See, we're doing pretty good. Mhmm. He's doing it. I'm so cheap. You know what I mean? You know where I'm going with that. I agree. That's all I've heard good things, you know, and that's that's that's a Great to deal You're doing two jobs. Yeah. You know? You gotta you gotta love that. So, again, go to meet with them. We're also completing the firework contract. I wanna get that in blood as fast as I can. I'm meeting on Friday with the fire department.

We're gonna do a walk through. They've got all of the all the specs that they need. They just wanna do one last walk through, you know, actually see it. So I'm meeting with them on Friday to make sure we can get this thing locked. And then, jeez, Luis, you know, I've got the the awful task of, you know, bringing this, you know, great thing to the public at such a bad time. You know? And, you know, it's it's the independence, you know, celebration for the town. And, you know, it's our job to, you know, to provide the best celebration. It doesn't mean, you know, more people have to be hurt, you know, with good celebrations. We're just doing what we should be doing.

Doing, and but, you know, I have an obligation to prove to present it, and it is good news, especially for people, you know, that wanna prepare their cookouts and get togethers and and etcetera. So we gotta announce that soon. Meeting with them on Friday. Meeting with tourism committee, I knew early on when this budget would happen. Again, what are the two things that suffer?

When when you make these kind of mistakes, town employees, people who work for the town suffer, and then also you lose you lose services. So I worked immediately on ways to try and get funding so that we could still have, one, the Independence Day celebration, and then, two, we're working on, you know, keeping the New Year celebration. A lot of kids, lot of families like that, and we wanna keep that event. And, again, neither one of these have a dime to the taxpayer. There's no taxpayer money in either one of these.

So I'm looking to work with tourism. You know, we just a great idea that big bald guy who asked a million questions, Montepard, he'd just be perfect, you know, to lead the noise parade. He's always making noise. He's perfect, you know, for it. So if we get the noise parade, you know, he would be a first round draft pick and then, you know, see if we can get the funding that I think we can get through other sources.

And, again, wouldn't wouldn't cost a taxpayer a dime to have a first night celebration for the kids and the families. So working on that. Prepping again for the Oliver Mill duck race. Again, I will be on Saturday and Sunday emptying the rubbish. So they'll fill up the rubbish.

I'll go in on Saturday afternoon, clean the place up. Go in on Sunday, clean the place up. We'll probably have somebody we have the opening day for youth baseball for Little League, and we'll probably have some hardworking alley cat maybe clean the place up. Maybe Friday the day, you know, before the event, help me clean the event, you know, make sure that the place the the complex is clean, you know, for opening day celebration and, you know, get get the Little League, you know, first pitch out there. I also have a meeting with the softball group on Wednesday night at the Elks. You know, we

have

to still discuss a few of the improvements going forward, what they want, you know, what we need. I have some great ideas, I think, that can help them, you know, in the fall. And so I'm gonna try to run those by that group and, you know, really get everybody, you know, happy and not like The Middle East. So I think it's important that we have fun, and I think that this meeting, you know, will go a long way towards that, you know, in, you know, maybe getting some of the things that they needed in the fall when we're really tight here with so many groups using the facility. So I want to do all that, give them a little background on, you know, how our partnership evolved.

And I look forward to meeting with them again and their opening day coming up. So they're really looking forward to they really have a good value plan for kids. They're really trying to make it more affordable for kids, and I like that. So I'm really excited, you know, about that. I meet with the aquatics director. We gotta make sure you know, we try and open. I wanna try and hit my goal and and open on the June. We wanna try to open a pool for the public. School gets out the twenty sixth. I think that'd be a big hit.

And glassing is going to be the completion of the fiberglassing is going to begin in a week. So we're still down at the pool, getting the leaves out of it, getting the rest of the water out of it so they can, you know, dry it up. And, you know, we've got to replace our chem system and get all that going. You know, I am, until I've heard otherwise, going to prepare, you know, to open. And so we're making all those steps, and the last phase of the fiber glassing, you know, will be completed this month.

So we have a good pool shell as good as we've had, you know, maybe in the last ten years to get started. So we're also getting that again. You gotta remember, we still they they power washed it, and so we're gonna have to go in and paint it all. So that's that's again why I've budgeted towards the end of the year for getting some help. We're not gonna pay a company to have some Middleborough people, Middleborough tax paying children, you know, painting the pool. And that's what I'm gonna do. I'm get in and paint the pool, knock it out. But it is, you know, like $70 a gallon for the right paint, and we have to sand it first to get a bond. So we hope to do all that, but, you know, it's something we didn't see coming. We didn't see and we thought we painted it last year, we were all set.

And they really went to town and to power wash them so that, you know, come back to bite us. And excuse me? No. No. No. You're not excused just yet. I got a couple more items, and you go through the chair. Am I the chair? No. So so hey. Five seconds. So so we have lacrosse came also down at Baddis Field on Friday night. So, again, we'll be opening that up and prepping that, and, you know, they'll be having their first games on the lights. That's exciting. You know, so we're gonna have lacrosse down there, you know, on Friday night. Again, we still have to get the Cobras scheduled as soon as possible Yeah. And work with the COBRs and the movie nights.

I should have I should have it the next week.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, again, if I can get you the movie night, you know, I don't if you can get some flexibility with Home and Awaken. We'll talk about that. Mhmm. You know, we we we that's that's a tough tough thing, you know, because they they compete, you know, against one another. So that pretty much concludes, you know, kind of what everybody's up to, give you a a good feel for that. And mister chairman, if you'd like to take that question from Yeah. The star to my right. You have

a question?

For the pool, to what grit are we sanding to?

150 grit.

So we're sanding one fifty grit? Correct. And for the longest from that brand, are they already split?

No. They were cut in log lengths because we have a big bonfire, and we use the large logs. You don't have to split it like a fireplace.

I would say it wouldn't have to split them in half our quarters.

Well, why we we wouldn't get as big a bonfire. You have to stack it. This this is not you know, we're not hanging socks by the fireplace. You know what I mean? Yeah. So it's a big fire.

Well, I hope that it would age faster.

Well, we've got the logs off the ground and they're tucked, not completely. So the wind gets underneath them and they're off the ground. And and by the way, it's not until the December, so we do have a while.

But wood species, like ugly logs. Wood species. Yep. Pine, oak, hickory.

If you must know, if it's that important to you, I will tell you that we are mostly collecting pine. Okay. We want a good burn fast.

So with the full depending on the size, so no ladders and really one foot wide. One foot diameter, we shouldn't be fine without living in the pine.

I think I said that. Right?

Mhmm. Yeah. Good, man. Just be back in the

Well, I don't I don't know about that. I mean I mean, we're just gonna you know, we're gonna try to burn it. You know what mean? We want it to burn. We want the bark as as great to burn.

Yeah. So

We You know, had the old business. Was it good? You good with

species? Yeah.

Old business starts with Woodstreet.

Yeah. So the Woodstreet ball field again just had Jeannie come to the rescue. They've got all the netting down. I did have a problem with one of the neighbors. We had this hack of these little tiny kids who can climb like gremlins, and, you know, they just had no rhyme or reason for doing it. I talked to the butter and I told them, you know, what we were gonna do eventually. We've gotta add some sort of extension to the time. Just never thought the kids would just, know, just go up in all this lady's backyard for no reason. And she's got a perfect right to complain. Mhmm.

And so we have to do something about that. We've gotta fix that problem. I thought it would be great over there because, again, the gas and electric, you know, helped us out with all the netting, and there would be no reason to go into people's backyards if there were no baseballs. We didn't think it would just be for the experience of climbing. So we had to work on that. But get the swing in there, add to the stone dust, fix that flagpole, and there's already been a, you know, a couple games in. They're practicing over there readily. It's great. You know, I hear the place is packed. Yeah. It's humming. I've gone by a few times. That Yes. Especially on the weekend too.

Yeah. I've seen

it packed a couple of times. That's that's what we're talking about, and it's beautiful. So, yeah, that's it, you know, for the Wood Street. We just wanna try and, you know, get funding any way we can and, you know, complete that play ground. And we've gotta add signage. I don't have the signage up yet. You know, that probably won't be until, you know, sometime in in the next fiscal budget. Things are just too tight right now, but we'd like to get, you know, the signage up there that's badly needed, you know, to help control the place. Westside? Westside Fields.

I am close to what you might consider stalking mister Aruda from DRS. They are over here finishing up the state park. So they're doing all kinds of good work. And I just gotta get them over. We're taking all of the hay bales and going to complete, you know, the silt fence that is required by the Conservation Commission. So we're gonna take we've taken some out of here. We're gonna take more and get them over to Westside. So, hopefully, they they can begin. The only thing, again, great is BRS has always been well worth the wait because they just have equipment that, you know, you just almost can't imagine. They go in there and finish something so quickly.

So I'm way behind. Behind. Shame on me. But, you know, I'm gonna continue to try to work with them and see if we can get them to get those dugouts out of there and begin the process.

July 4. Yeah.

So, again, just looking to get that contract set. The carnival owner is good with everything that's in place. And I I did talk briefly with, you know, one of the selectmen, you know, Mark. And, you know, he conveyed his opinion, you know, about one of the nights staying open half an hour, so I should address that again. Something actually just came to my mind and, you know, make sure we get the okay. He said to me it was okay with him, was okay if it was okay with the police. And the police said they were okay with it. So, you know, we wanna open for a half hour later. That would be beneficial, you know, for the carnival owner. The carnival owner, you know, wants that to happen.

So we just have to push for that. Other than that, you know, we're on stride and just gotta pray for good weather. Mhmm. But again, you know, it will be, without question, be the best, you know, display that the town has ever seen. Mhmm. You know, I think that's that's pretty cool. Yeah. What what can you do?

Especially especially now. Yep. Yep.

Field

use. Yeah. So everything is set. So, again, we've got senior league baseball. We've got lacrosse, middle bar, lacrosse, all ages.

Am I about to live to try and avoid the camera? Could you have

just sat down and left the cookies? Would that have hurt? So so, you know, we just, you know, we we just wanna make sure that, you know, we've got all the groups finished and don't schedule, you know, one field while another group is on there. And it's a challenge. We've got so we have, you know, another group that just called over here from what what is the group over here? The Gateman? So, you know, they're thanks for the

quick help. Some new one over there.

So, you know, we got they gave you a baseball guy and they're they're gonna, you know, look to, you know, rent from us. You know, we've got a request, you know, from the sting over here. We have the madness. So a number of different groups of baseball and ball. We hope that everybody can, you know, coexist, and we wanna try and make sure everybody has space. We've got a woman's league, you know, looking to practice, you know, some softball down here.

Well, it doesn't cooperate.

It is what it is. You know, so just to give you an idea of all the groups and and everything is done, you know, really except for, you you know, MYSL and this new group from the Gaitman. But and, of course, we have the semi pro Cobras, you know, will be starting in the spring. So that's pretty much, you know, the six or seven groups that we have that, you know, help us develop revenue. Yeah. I'll have you I'll have my schedule pull you. Men's League just just come out, I think, this week, and they're waiting for I think it gets finalized. Right. Men's Sunday doesn't really affect anything after 3PM. Summer program.

We are doing well with the recreation side. We have a number of older interested candidates. It's something that we always want. We want the 17 year old plus that creates a gap between, you know, an age gap and age gap between the 12 year olds and the 17 year The bigger the gap, the better we are, more maturity, and they leave quicker, you know, for full time jobs, we can open up spaces for new kids to get in. Still having a bit of a challenge filling filling all all of of the the pool pool applicants, you know.

So we don't have many lifeguard applicants. So we're working on that. That usually is something we have to hit at the buzzer. I have developed a fair, objective, and consistent pay scale, you know, for the summer program. So, you know, I think that's always important when, you know, you can do something that's, you know, based on merit and, you know, fairness.

So, you know, we've we've established that and I've developed a budget. And, again, I'm gonna meet with, you know, Heather and Joe Macy, you know, for the swim. And we've got enough people certified, I believe, already for that last weekend, and then we would work to get certification the July while the carnival is here. That's when we do that training.

And it takes us to new business and the FY '27 budget shortfall.

Yeah. Again, you know, I I think everybody is aware. It's, you know, been all over. You know, our former town manager left, you know, for and we have an interim town manager. And this interim town manager is in a no win, dark situation.

I I do believe that if this guy collected a paycheck, our current interim tank collected a paycheck and just scooted out of there, I believe I don't believe I know budget that was developed or the most recent budget developed by the former town manager would have been punted back to us, in my opinion, by the Department of Revenue. And I am no financial expert, but I've also, you know, never gone so dramatically over my budget. So I can say at least I took the Crayola and stayed within the lines. I've always done that at least. So I'm no expert, but, you know, again, I believe from what I I've learned through this whole process that that would have been punted back in October and we would have even greater catastrophic problems.

So this guy is in a no win situation. He's inherited a problem that had nothing to do with him. And had he not done anything and this had hit in October, he would have been a perfect scapegoat. I'm not putting blame on anybody, but you think about this. This hits in October. The Department of Revenue kicks the budget back. The tend to he's the perfect scapegoat. So this guy's in a no win situation. And, you know, I think we're lucky. And you gotta at least at least I don't I don't blame the select I don't blame the select board of the Fincom as much as most people.

You know, you get you get paid good money and, you know, the fire department, they put out fires, police arrest people, park guys, we cut the grass. I mean, they're just simple big things that you gotta do. And so I just look at it and, you know, this is this is dark. It's you know, on a on a taxpayer. You're not gonna have as good a services.

And, you know, there's all kinds of anxiety and, you know, challenges with school and the town. And, you know, we pay good money to managers to do what? The number one thing, balance the budget, protect services and town employees. I just think that's as simple as you get. That's your number one thing you gotta do.

And, you know, I think between business manager, think it's $700,000, you know, of income to do that one thing. And, you know, this new interim town manager has had to go back in and do the budget over. And, you know, he's getting a crash course by a a number, you know, of local experts. I know he's reached out to the guy in Canton, Rich LaCamera in Lakeville, and he's also spoken with Andrew Suitforth in Lakeville. He's spoken with the former accountant here, Steve Dooney.

So I know that, you know, Joe is working at it. He's by no means as talented as he appears with the budget. He's working at it. And I think we're lucky that he is, but it's a no win situation because, again, you've inherited such a a dark problem. And with all the growth that we had that you know, again, you know what your revenue is. Don't hire new people. Don't create new positions if you can't sustain them. And it's just as simple as that. And so I have my opinion of it. You know, I talked with a couple of guys.

I talked about a situation with, you know, someone from law enforcement. I say, hey, you know, when I went to coach your brother, he's I was a young guy. I said, I didn't manage him right. You know, I owned up. And, you know, I say, you know, I was a young coach, and I I didn't develop this young guy right. You know, I you know, I dropped the ball. You know? And I think that's the way I look at this. You guys all pick up what I'm what I'm dropping. So that is it.

That's my ad lit. That's kind of my personal thoughts after, you know, thirty five years of watching fiscal stupidity and and good decisions over my time. But, you know, I hope that this is a lot like, you know, I say like the blizzard of seventy eight where it just changes the way people, you know, do snow removal. Hope that this budget changes, you know, the way that, you know, we all work together, what's the simplest thing? The very first thing here, you know, let's not, you know, talk about number two pencils, but let's make sure that, you know, those four tenants chapter 70 money receipts receipts, and, you know, everything, you know, is in good balance.

That's it it's paramount. There's nothing more important, and I hope we learn that, you know, from the situation. So our budget, I've met with him two times and he said, I'll get back to you. I did all that I could do, you know, in my situation to, you know, make our case. You know, I I talked about the past. I said, hey. Look. You know, we have no new positions here. We didn't partake in the increase in any way of, you know, the budget bubble. We drive a 79 pickup and a 2014.

Nobody drives a vehicle here. You know, we drive our own vehicles. Often use my own vehicles. And when the school department department back back in in the the early nineties had trouble, we did both of their fields. There's never any we just took on more work, save jobs. And we did that for about twenty years. I think we saved about 1,200,000.0, you know, doing those two jobs, unfunded pension liability. I was the first one in our department had made. I mentioned unfunded pension liability insurance. You keep hiring, you can't keep it up.

So very difficult. And, you know, I saw it. I saw it, you know, in years ago. We've done what we had to do here in the past, you know, to save and we will going forward, we'll certainly do whatever it takes to help somebody else out in a tough situation. And that's what we're gonna try to do.

But a lot of what we do here is generate revenue, and we are still even of the town government side, I think, like, you know, 0.05% of the entire budget. So, you know, you know, taking a big chunk of us still would not go a long way to with the $3,200,000 deficit. So he's gonna get back to me, but, you know, right now, I think we're working somewhere about that 10%, you know, in the cut. And, you know, I've got our ideas how we attack that. We're just gonna, you know, see what happens.

I'm waiting for him to get back to me, and, you know, that's all can we do at this point. But if you were to not open a pool, you'd have to fill the pool. If you fill that pool, it's done, then, you know, then what what do you do with the pool? You you're gonna spend millions rehabbing that pool at that point. Or even if you put in no parking lot, you're gonna spend millions.

It don't it's it would be, you know, dollar dumb and penny smart. So, you know, I think we generate, you know, something like, you know, a 100 and, you know, $70,000 of income here too. So it's not just that straightforward. And kids would lose jobs. So I made my case as best I could and, you know, now, you know, this is a culmination of, you know, something that, you know, was created, you know, a while ago and, you know, you know, we're faced with this this problem.

So I I don't know if I, you know, made it clear, just kind of vented, but, you know, I've been here a long time and and I've seen good stuff and bad stuff.

The other last thing in new business is the Herring Festival.

Yeah. So, again, I've told you about, you know, what we're gonna do, you know, certainly help them out and and, you know, make them well, help them have a good event. We'll do, you know, what we need to do with the cleanup and the pickup, you know, etcetera. And I'm sure that, you know, tourism and those guys have always, you know, been good to us. And, you know, I look forward to working with that group. I've always had fun with them. Mhmm. You know, that includes even when Nate was there. I enjoyed Nate. You know, I wanna make that point. So I look forward to it and the canoe race.

Do we have anything un unanticipated?

I just have a question about the skate park. When how's that come along? I haven't seen anything.

That is good. But, you know, it has it has been so moved to the back burner, you know, based on that dark cloud. And

Has it been poured yet?

I I don't know if there's activity over there. I haven't actually, like,

stared at it, but things are happening over there.

Yeah. The bullet, I believe, has already had has already been made.

Chance, but we'll say you're the right guy at the right moment for that one.

Thanks.

Yep. So yeah. I mean, I know it has to go to town meeting and I think that's the next step. Yep. I think, you know, it has to be you know, community preservation funding has to be approved at town meeting to, you know, work on that playground, get that playground in there, and I I believe it's, you know, on track. But, again, it's been, you know, the least of everybody's worries. But, yeah,

that's And been the

I mean, activity for a while, the weather, mean, I think I think the weather

Yeah.

Really just Yeah. Shut them down two or three times.

Yeah. That's been a lot going on lately. Yeah. They're expecting to be moving around. A lot

of activity. All the vehicles they have over there, the big machines are all Yeah.

Moving different spots all the time now. Big big gift to the kids there. So that that's because, again, that's a great project.

That's gonna be good. That's it. Just the motion to adjourn.

I'll make the motion to adjourn.

Second. All in favor?

Aye. Aye. Seven twenty eight.