June 15, 2026 – Select Board – Video & Transcript
June 15, 2026 - Select Board
Good evening, Mr. Chair of the Select Board. I'm calling the June 15, 2026 meeting of the Select Board to order.
This is an in-person and remote access meeting in the town building and via Zoom, and the meeting is starting tonight at 6 p.m.
This meeting may be recorded, and if recorded, it will be made available to the public on WACAM as soon as possible after the meeting.
The public will be excluded from tonight's executive session.
Pursuant to Chapter 2 of the Acts of 2025, this meeting will be conducted in person and or via remote access in accordance with ethical law.
One may watch or participate remotely with the meeting link that can be found on the agenda and also on the Whelan calendar.
When required by law or allowed by the chair, persons wishing to provide public comment or otherwise participate in the meeting,
may do so at the meeting location here in the town building.
Public comment should be related to two minutes per person.
Please note, I'm going to read the agenda, but please note, agenda items, box times, or approximate items may or may not be discussed in the order as listed,
and all topics may be subject to deliberation and vote.
So, after announcements and public comment, we will have a discussion about potential fiscal year 2020 operating override.
Approximately 645, we'll enter into executive session pursuant to Massachusetts General Law Section 38, Section 21A3,
to discuss strategy with respect to litigation on 12 cases as listed on the agenda.
Approximately 8 p.m., we intend to return to open session. Approximately 8 p.m., we will have a joint meeting with the Board of Assessors to interview, discuss, and possibly vote to appoint a candidate to fill a vacancy on the Board of Assessors. Approximately 8 p.m., we will have a hearing with a license to discuss change of ownership at the Villa. It will be followed by appointments to committees, discuss reappointments. Approximately 8 p.m., we will have an organization with the Board to finalize our 47 liaison laws, discuss appointing a board clerk, followed by the Town Manager's report, the Consent Calendar, minutes of May 18th to June 1st. I don't believe there are any meetings for June 8th. I will review correspondence, hear select board members reports of concerns, and hopefully adjourn by 9 p.m. So join me in the meeting room this evening. We have Mr. Whitney, Mr. Reynolds, Mr. Fay, and myself, Carol Martin. I believe we're going to be joined shortly by Mr. Levine. We are also joined by our Town Manager, Mr. Michael McCall. So, everybody, and I believe remotely we are being assisted tonight by our Assistant Town Manager, Ms. Kelsey Powers-Billette. I didn't see you. So, I think that's it. Okay. So, having said all that, we have any announcements from the Board?
I'll ask you a call. Okay. Any public comment in the room? I don't think it will be done. Is there any public comment online? No. Great. Sorry. Please let the records for the minutes show that Mr. Levine have joined us at 602. Thank you. All right. That's going to bring us to our next agenda item, which is to invite Brian Kevner, our finance director, and Paul Barnes, our Home of Finance Committee, to join us for a discussion of the possible next steps on the potential of fiscal year 2020 operating order of this session. There are some slides that accompany this presentation. Are you going to put them up? I don't have a session. Okay. There is some information. Yeah. So, there is... I don't know if it's still done. Yeah. They're in the supplemental packet. Everybody wants to look at the supplemental packet that we're not this morning. So, I think there are about four slides, four or five slides here. And, Brian, would you like to speak to the reason we're having this agenda and discussion and want us to do the slides? So, we've met a couple of times, various groups, school committee, finance committee member, our town management. So, we've had a couple of meetings already about the override. We've met two years in a row during the summertime on budgets, as you well know. We prepared the fiscal 27 budget without an override, but we've been talking about the fact that most likely in fiscal 28 and in the outyards we'll need override. We did make a presentation in November, showed you folks over a 10-year period what those numbers might look like. I did send out some files on Friday. I'm still updating my long-term forecast. We've had at least two things that happened very recently. The state gave us a little bit more money in state aid in fiscal 27, which will roll over into 28. The assessor tells me that most likely we'll be looking at about $600,000 in new growth. I've been carrying for $100,000. So, that will help our overall position. I think what Michael and I and Carl want to talk about tonight is just a few things. The very first file, this form right here, although we're still truing up some of the numbers, we're fairly confident that an override would be needed to about $2.5 million to $3 million to balance a fiscal 28 budget. I gave you another very busy file that I've given you to previously, and I've actually keyed in the various overrides amounts that would be needed if we produced a level service budget, which would result in an override need, and I put in those various amounts. I think what the decision needs to be, and then there's two more schedules in there to just record because I've had to update those. So, in looking at the material, just look at the first two taps. The final two have some edits in it, and I didn't get to finish those in taps. However, I think what we need to decide is the cost of adoption to take, and the override is going to be a big undertaking for the town. It's pretty clear in 28, we'll need an override of $2.5 to $3 million, and I'm just putting in level service spending. The biggest drivers of fiscal 28 are really in that classified area. We're looking at about a 15% increase in health insurance. We're going to have an increase in debt service. With a time, it may be between 6% to 9%. So, in terms of dollars, the unclassified category is really using up a lot of those dollars, year-over-year increase, and not leaving a tremendous amount left of payroll and other expenses. The overtime category is really sucking up a lot of those dollars. So, I think what we have to get to a point is, really, do we prepare a budget, a level service budget that will require overrides for fiscal 28 in the out years, or do we prepare a budget that requires a specific amount of override, the 28, or do we prepare a budget that doesn't need an override? Now, the number, fiscal 28, if we prepare the budget, would be about 4.4%. If we prepare the budget, 4.4%, then we would not need an override. However, that would result in a lot of cuts internally to payroll, because, again, the unclassified category is what's sucking up all the dollars. So, in going into this fiscal year budget for 28, I think it's really prudent for the town to decide what direction to take. Do you want Michael and I to prepare a budget along with the Finance Committee that will require an override, you're looking at 2.5 to 3, or do you want us to produce a budget that produce a million-dollar override, or produce a budget that doesn't produce an override? Last year, in fiscal 27, we had some levers to pull. We don't have those anymore. There's nothing we can do to diminish the expenses. We're factoring in some color increases. Michael has a couple of unions already settled up with the most part. The teachers are not settled, fire is not settled, police are not settled, but I do have those in my model, and I'm fairly confident that they're reasonable estimates. So, in working with Michael and the Finance Committee, I think it will be helpful, at least from the very beginning, which we're doing is, what direction do we want to take in preparing the fiscal 28? Clearly, 28 is in front of us first. Do we want to do an override for just 28, or do we want to do a three-year override, which would be 28, 29, and 30? I think that's really what needs to be said, decided initially before we get into developing budgets. I'm not sure, Michael, if you want to add to that. Yeah, I was going to say, I wanted to just give a little background color here for the committee. There's been a working group together, both going on math, and they've been looking at this high-level forecast of where we are. They looked at, I'm probably told me to take it from here, Michael Myers, if they looked at, if we were to do an operating override, you know, would we want to try to vote by the first year in August, so it would be on the November general election budget, or do we want to do a special election? Sorry. Ballot. Ballot. Sorry. Ballot. Sorry?
Or do we want to wait and do it, you know, like a January special election, or do we want to do a little later? That was not determined. I think in the conversation, I will say this, I was invited to the meeting when they were talking about the three, the timing, if you will, if we were to go forward in the timing, and I think, looking at Doug, I think we were pretty comfortable saying, particularly how we were so uncomfortable last year, not having the ability to communicate with residents what a yay and enable would mean, and being able to provide a lot of information, and we were made aware there's a lot of information on various types of websites, that August might be a little bit too tight, and so that probably is not a viable option, but it is an option. And so, anyway, having said that, before I open to the board for questions, I'm going to ask Doug and Michael if they would have left it too, because they have bent in these meetings. Yes. So, thank you, Madam Chair. As Mr. Keveney had said, you know, for some time now, we've been able to get through the fiscal year without having to ask the taxpayers for additional monies. By being creative, we came to you last year to convert some levy debt to excluded debt. We were able to refinance some bond anticipation notes in previous years. We saved through attrition, and at least on the town side, we're running pretty lean. As I've indicated before, inside a town meeting, all you have to do is go to the NMA's website, nma.org, and take a look at their white paper that they put together in conjunction with Tufts University about the perfect storm and what's happening to communities across the Commonwealth, because of the limitations of Proposition 2.5, and a lot of these unclassified items in the budget that are increasing, pensions, health care, insurance, debt service. These are things we're obligated to take care of. So, we've been lucky until now with proper planning, prudent fiscal management, to get through. And as I said, this would be the first time we would be asking the taxpayers and hope that we've been good stewards of your money. The challenge now for us is the long-term planning for one of these overrides. And I don't want to simplify things, but, you know, we often, all of us like to go on vacation. And when you go on vacation, you really have to start by picking the dates. And once you pick the dates, you can get the hotel, then the flight pattern. And then later on, you can pick the restaurant or what clothes you want to bring. But you have to make some critical decisions up front. And we're at that stage now where we have to make the critical decisions about, are we going to consider going down the override path? And even if you do that, you have to make those two budgets that Mr. Kevin E. alluded to. You have to have the one in anticipation of asking the question and the one if the question doesn't pass. But you also have to start planning because a lot of these dates, there's timelines, as you know, for town election, if we want to have a special election, if you want to get on the state ballot in November. So there's a lot of long-range planning that those decisions have to be made in the next, say, month or two, if you want, or probably this coming 30 days, if you want to get on the November ballot. And then there's all the planning associated. So we're going to wind up doing multiple things in parallel. We're going to have to continually refine our numbers, update them. You also have your policy with regard to Proposition 2.5. Whatever we're doing has to go through the Finance Committee for their opinions. And then we have to consider if, as Mr. Kevin E. said, are we doing a one-year ask, a three-year ask? And do we want to do it in such a timeline that if we went for a three-year and it doesn't pass, do we save time so that we could regroup and ask for a one-year, say, at the April? That's why there was these options. Do you start in November? Do you come back after the first of the year with a special election? And then do you wait till April? So there's a combination of things that we have to consider, but that initial planning, like I said, has to start happening now. And all along, we're going to have to fine-tune the outward-facing messaging as to why we're doing this, what we're asking for, and the dollar amounts. And those could change as we go through the process, as we know, in a normal budget cycle. But now we have other variables such as unions, state aid, and we've had problems with inflation. So we're not unique, as I say, in this problem, but it will be a challenging time between now and next spring as to how we put this together. So it's going to start with this initial discussion about how much, when, and why. And I think we've put together the why, because we've been working on this for a couple of years. It's now how to, what are the next steps? So I think that's key point here, is this is initial discussion. When it first, Doug first called me, it was kind of a couple days before the June 1st meeting, and we decided that we would wait till today to have the initial conversation so that we're allowed. Brian, I don't think, was even in that Friday. So we'd give him a chance to put together this so we could see how the numbers fall out. So I didn't realize that we could potentially ask for a budget where there is no override. So I guess Lexington was in a similar position. So Lexington voters passed this $650 million new high school. But then in lieu of having an override vote, I think the select board made a determination at that point, instead of going back to the well, they were just going to make some cuts. I myself would feel very uncomfortable making that determination on our own without going to the voters. So what I'm hearing, because we didn't discuss this at our previous two meetings, we could potentially ask for a budget with no override vote, but it automatically will mean some cuts. And it just means what degree of cuts. If we make that determination, would all of those cuts have to come from the town side? Or can you say, school committee, you have to make X million dollars of cuts as well? So I think what Mr. Kevney alluded to, we're obligated to take care of most all of those unclassified obligations. So if we were looking at a potential shortfall with a level service budget of $2.5 to $2.7 million, that would wind up being distributed proportionally between us and the schools. That's how I would foresee it. And it would primarily come down on staffing, because you still have to satisfy a lot of these obligations for retirement. Now, your health insurance numbers and a few things would change if you brought down your head count. But there would be some slight changes. There are some towns that just say that we're not going to have an override and we'll let chips fall what they may. But in order to do that, do you have to have the agreement of the select board, the finance committee, and the school committee? Or can the finance committee and select board say, make a determination, we're not going to have an override? So the way the policy works and the way the statute works, the policy here says any board can come and ask the select board. It's the select board that makes the ultimate decision under state law to put the proposition over a two and a half override question on the ballot. Our internal policy says the select board needs to then go to the finance committee to have them do an analysis and make a recommendation. So I guess the first part would be Mr. Kevin and I come and ask you formally and say, hey, we need to do this. And then we give you the options, the one year, three year, the amounts. And then the board has to make a decision. Okay, this is the direction we want to go. Start listening to the finance committee. But so Doug's question, I think, is the next door, which says, that's the override policy. That's an increase. But what if we say we're not, we don't want to have an increase? That's, I believe, it's a select board. So who makes the decision to have a budget that would require, that have no override, and possibly cuts, adjustments? So if the select board says we're not going to put the question on the ballot, then Mr. Kevin and I have to come back and put together a budget based on our, you know, what our existing levy capacity is, and then put together a plan of how we would get there. But it's not possibly cuts, though. If we, what I'm hearing is, if we don't make a determination to have an override, we're just talking about cuts, right? Because we can't balance the budget. Right. And it sounds like it's going to fall somewhere between two and a half and a three million dollar shortfall. And so that is the number of cuts we would need to make if we have no override, right? Yes, at the moment, because this number is a real high-level forecast, but yes. But I mean, it's not going to come down to the hearing this time, it sounds like, right? You're still hopeful. There's a couple numbers here. I think that Brian is still going to shore up, so it could balance a little, but... But not down to zero. So that, but that was your question. That was my threshold question, because we didn't start talking about that, but what I did want to mention to the board is, we did talk about timing for an override vote, and it sounded like there were three general options. The first being the rushed option, which would mean we had to make a determination here in July to submit to the Secretary of the Commonwealth by August in order to get on the November ballot. It's unfortunate that it's such an abbreviated timing, because at the November election, you have a built-in turnout. And I looked at the turnout for the last midterms four years ago, and it's like hovering in 75% to 80%, so you don't have to turn the vote out. It's already turned out. But it sounds like that's just not realistic, because we would have to rush to such a degree. So then the third option was a late option, which was in the spring of 2027. The school committee, the select board, I mean, the superintendent was strenuously against that, because it doesn't give the teachers any kinds of heads up. They wouldn't know if an override were going to pass or not until sometime in the spring when they already would have applied for another job if it were to fail, which leaves this middle option, which was sometime between January and March of 2027, which we just call the winter option. So to me, walking away from these meetings, it really sounded like the only realistic option. I thought that was what we were going to spend some time talking about today, because I just assumed that an override was going forward no matter what. Yeah, I think the committee has kind of been, I think, my goal tonight was to get the information before the board and then let them ask questions and get us started if they're left to speed. So, Carl, if you don't mind, I'm going to come back to you and open up questions from the board regarding the information that Brian has presented. So, I'm going to start with you. I have several areas to cover. I'd like to start with Carl Barnes. Carl, thanks for coming tonight. Can you give us your thoughts at this point and what you've heard and where you think the Fundingist Committee would like to go from a process perspective?
We haven't met since those meetings that Carl was describing. But I've talked to members individually, and honestly, I think the committee would say you have to ask that the discussion is premature, that we're talking about timing of a phone override before you decide whether you need one. And so, that has a, you know, you get the train on that track, and it's really hard to stop it. Now, I'm not suggesting that we want to stop it, but I think it would be, the committee would like to know whether there will be an override, whether it's a one-year override with a three-year override, and most important, what happens if we don't get it passed? So, I mean, you know, as McCall said a moment ago, that he would need to, or they would need to prepare a budget in eventuality that it doesn't, that the override doesn't pass. That's actually quite important, I think, not only to sell it to the town, but to sell it to the finance committee, because I think there's some concern there. So, I would just ask, going forward, since the Town Manager Act was passed, responsibility has kind of shifted on the town budget, and good communication is critical, given the revised role, town manager, and finance committee. So, I'm just asking the Town Manager, the finance director, and the finance committee, make sure you communicate well, and work together, and keep each other updated, so that this is a difficult process, enough as it is, right? Good communication, good shared information would be great. My next topic is federal cuts. Mr. Town Manager. I didn't get the first one. Federal cuts. Federal cuts. Thank you. Could you tell us to what extent federal cuts impact the budget situation of the different? If I had to give you an answer, I would say we have not seen any direct impact, really. I mean, we had delays getting the money for Snapebrook Dam, but what I would say is we're starting to see trickle down. Some of the grants that we would normally get are being postponed, or the amounts are smaller, and I think that's because the less is going to the states, and then in turn the states have meals to give to the town. We do apply for some FEMA grants and some others, and generally what we're starting to see is some of the monies are getting delayed or the amounts are smaller, and for instance, we apply for a Department of Mental Health grant to get some monies to offset what we're doing with our community advocate that's working with the police department and that grant they're holding off, and so this is the type of action we're seeing, so it's not like a direct, you're not getting money, we're just seeing delays. Thanks. Mr. Kevin, the next question, I really appreciate the information put together. The chart's very helpful. Are you basically stating on page five of this supplemental packet here, are you anticipating, if you look at the override numbers in red, that each year the town should expect to have sit to read to me, an override of that amount each year? Yes. Where are you looking, Tom? Okay, so... Line 29. Levy table. A better view would be this table, which does the same thing. This is the... Do you believe page three? We have a question of three? And then... Page four of six. Page four of the... Yeah. Where's this budget summary? Line 29. Line 29, exactly. So that's, that's excluded. Very similar to what we talked about in November. Right. The 10-year financial forecast that we produced, we gave the presentation twice last fall when we were talking about the letters that we were trying to pull. This, a similar table was presented at that time. And... So, do you get any impression, Brian, that the legislature is appreciating the numbers that we're experiencing, and we're a wealth of talent, okay? But this is, as the time manager just explained, an issue throughout communities throughout the state. Is there any interest in increasing state aid to keep in line with inflation? I mean, if you go back 20 years and you apply inflation to the percentage of state aid that towns are getting now, it's much less, right? So, is there any, any conversation? I don't think so. There's a lot of pushback in the fourth quarter of this year from different state legislatures that towns didn't get enough money, so we did get more money with unrestricted aid. I don't see the town getting much more than a 2.5% increase over a year in the other years, around, you know, $300,000 to $400,000. I don't see that number going up dramatically higher to offset some of these numbers. Even if we got a 5% increase in state aid, we would still be relatively in the same predicament with the budgets. So, one representative who I don't see here tonight, but maybe we can in a future meeting, is representative from the schools, you know, at least 50%, if not 70% of the town budget is the schools, right? It's about, I did the split, it's about $65,000, $35,000. And this information, I think, is, and not that they're on the way of it, I'm sure the superintendent is, and that means a great job as a liaison to the school community to keep good communication. But I think having a future conversation like this would be important so that if many people fall in decision-making on their end are fully aware. Now, these numbers are pretty solid, and they don't even reflect our discussion preliminary on new school construction. Am I right? Well, that would be excluded debt. So, if we did something significant on a school, we would vote that as excluded debt, and it would not incur these numbers here.
So, let me just jump in. So, these numbers also have in there our five-year capital budget. So, everything in the five-year capital budget that's to be issued by debt service, I've already gone to the bank and got the debt service for each one of those for the next five years. That is all mapped in here. The problem after you get past the fifth year is we don't have a capital plan beyond the fifth year. For example, if we had a 10-year plan, I would have 10 years' work on that service maintain. I do have five, and I've sort of flat-lined it in the out years, but I do have a lot of the capital budget mapped into this one. But if we did a significant school project, it would be excluded debt. And my last question is to you, Mr. Town Manager, are you seeing communities that are considering votes on overrides in November?
So, I haven't looked that up, but while we were here, I just quickly went to the Municipal Data Bank and just looked at the number of override questions that were put on ballots in the last two fiscal years, and there were 351 separate questions. Now, that doesn't mean 351 cities and towns. For instance, I'm looking at Chilamark, and they had a question on each year for school general operating in those fiscal years. So, several towns had several questions.
Awesome.
It says 111 Massachusetts municipalities held Prop 2.5 general operating override votes in the last two fiscal years. And that may dovetail because many of these communities had multiple questions on those two years. So, there was a total of 351 questions. I didn't sort by municipality yet. I'm just curious whether any, to your knowledge, and your discussions with other town administrators and town managers, whether there's a lot of discussion about having a November ballot. We chatted about it. I think most are going more with the, as we called it, options two and three in the spring or, you know, at their annual town election. There have been, I've been trying to research. You can take this data and you can play with it. I've been looking at the communities that have won in recent years and how they've done their information campaigns and when they ask their questions. So, I'm trying to gather, since we started this work, we can get that type of information as well. Arlington seems to be one of the examples that a lot of people are looking at. And I know some of the folks over there and I've been starting to review how they've approached it. And if we were to go down the road of doing an informational campaign, I'd probably look at theirs and a couple other towns that were successful. That's all I have. Thank you. Yes, sir. Awesome. Okay. Phil, over on Chris. Phil's ultimate list. Sure. Brian, I have a question about the debt. I know that's part of the, you know, what's really driving this. And you alluded to exempt versus non-exempt debt. Should we be thinking, looking closer at exempt debt as a strategy going forward versus carrying debt service for non-exempt capital projects? Well, the town has not always been consistent with when the issue excluded debt. We've done it for a million dollars and we've not done it for two million dollars. Michael, look, the policy we just did, Carol, that excluded that number. Wasn't it two million? I think it's two and a half percent. Conducted by about 2.5 million. So, in the capital, we have this building here. We have about five to seven million dollars of potential for this building. That's an excluded debt. I'm drawing a blank on some of the other ones that we have in there. We have, I'm being told that the school may have a $2 million study coming up for one of the schools that we have in there as a levy. That could be for excluded debt. My own personal opinion, anytime you have a project that's a million dollars or more, I think a compensation of excluded debt probably leads to happen. I think if you have a hard number of, in a policy of three, you've got to be somewhat flexible to make your budget. We've done that in the past. But I think every time we've tried to issue a large project, we've tried to do it by, we have a library of 2.9. Louise and I recommended excluded debt, but that did not move forward to a vote. So typically what we tried to do in the capital budget is large projects we do put forward as excluded debt. And does this forecast presume that to be the case? Yes. So an interesting thing about this debt and the levy debt, the exempt debt and the levy debt is part of the policy that we've tried to implement over the years we've not quite achieved is to keep debt service as a constant. But what has happened is when the debt service drops, those funds actually end up supporting the operating budget. So then what happens is if we move debt over to the exempt debt, we're going to end up over there all the time. It'll be very challenging to put it back in the operating budget because there'll be no line item for it because we'll have brought that down so low. So, you know, there is in our new financial policies that we've formalized financial policies that was the recommendation from the state was that we do level service, level fund, excuse me, level fund the debt service in the operating budget. So even as it drops, you continue to, so there should be $600,000, but we only need $550,000. The other $50,000 goes to like, for example, the capital stabilization fund. So that helps to fund capital in future years. But what's been happening is literally as the, for example, the school, high school, as we pay now, and we drop $300,000, $400,000, $500,000, that just would go towards operating budget expenses.
I don't know if that is. Well, I still think that we should think about excluded debt given that it's an uncontrolled expense in the unclassified. So what's your sense, Brian, if we don't go forward with a $1.7 million override in the current, in the coming fiscal year, that's, you know, less than 2%, so that's the total budget. So what's the incidence of those cuts? I assume that there are certain things that we're statutorily required to do, such as special education. So what areas, is the pain spread evenly across all line items, or are there certain areas that are more effective than others? Well, you know, for payroll, for example, if you made reductions in payroll, it would have an effect on the Medicare tax. I mean, unclassified, because some people would be paying that payroll if that individual was on health insurance, that would drop. So when you reduce payroll, it does have an effect on other areas. You know, the first legal budget we need to pay is the debt service. I don't know, I believe next one probably will be retirement since that semester under law. I think those are the first two. Everything else is not required by law. You have discretion on all, anything after that. I think the biggest impact in making a $2 million, $2.5 million, you would have really have to take a look at the payroll spending. On the school side, you're in a $55 million budget, and, you know, 80% of that is payroll. I mean, the school is all payroll. In fact, most of our budget is payroll. If you really take a look at it, you know, the town budget, the government budget is really payroll-driven. Yeah, we do have our expenses, but it's really different by payroll because it's a service industry. And taking a look at that, to answer your question, you probably need to look at payroll as the biggest impact in doing it. You would have to do that anyways if you went with an A and B, if your override failed, just like what Winchester did. But Winchester, you know, because I used to be there, had a series of successful overrides. And then it didn't. And then they had to, they weren't ready for that. And they had to go back in and cut their budgets. They had to increase the use of free cash. And I even called a controller up there. And I said, how can you guys still be using free cash for AAA Moody's? Well, we replenished it. Yeah. Yes, but you're not supposed to be using free cash. In the case of Lexington that Doug mentioned, they actually did use free cash for the first time. And there was a big debate on the floor. They were AAA Moody's, and we should not be using free cash. So if this was just a bridge of one year, you could make the argument, you know, if Wayland one time used free cash. But as you can see in looking at this, there's no light at the end of the tunnel, except for increasing the levy capacity, economic growth, bringing new growth into the town. That's the biggest impact the town can have on addressing the override would be economic development. It gives you a hamstring by proctor now. I don't believe that's going to change. You know, we've had good growth in local receipts, but state aid, even if we get 5%, it's not going to get us out of the woods. So which departments, though, assuming that you do a reduction in the head, would you guess that's distributed evenly across the various departments, or would you say, you know, public safety, this may be less flexibility, you know, the must-haves versus the would-like to-haves? I'd like to chime in a little bit. Right now, because of the snow and ice deficit, we haven't been filling positions that are open until July 1, and we, most of the departments in this, at least for the town operations, are probably down at least one FT right now. The position is vacant. Some we haven't posted. Some we're trying to post. So we're hanging in there trying to make level service. If we don't fill some of those come July 1, and we have to make further cuts, it's really going to impact service here. I think you'd have to go in a department-by-department basis. There's certain departments, I think you hit a critical level where you couldn't reduce too many more people, especially in our finance departments. You have to maintain some level of inspectional services. You're going to have to keep inspectors, or at least one inspector. You'd have to go through and do that analysis, I think, department-by-department. The school department would have to look upon itself and see how they were going to do that. You know, they'd have to make policy decisions whether they're going to increase classroom size or they're going to consolidate to, you know, one facility. I know over the years in my hometown, you know, they would try and close certain things and consolidate, and that may be one way to do it. One thing, if we do have a reduction in workforce, you do have some savings in the unclassified, but you also have to remember that will drive up our unemployment obligations. And there's usually a rule, I think, is you have to let go of three people to pay for two. Is that your recollection? It's been a while, but I don't have to get back and look at it. But he's right. We would have to increase the unemployment we carry, 40,000. They may have to go to 150,000, 200,000, 300,000. We don't really know. That's speculation. Don't we have to have that kind of analysis if we decide to go for a one- or a three-year override to talk about, you know, what's the downside if this doesn't pass? So do we have that information, or would we generate that information? Well, we're working on that. Okay. We're working on fine-tuning the numbers, coming up with a low-service budget, coming up with the override number. Right. If it failed, if that number failed, then we would need to have a budget prepared, compensate for that. Right. The amount of money we're talking about, if it was a three-year, is it a sum of 1.7, 2.7, and 2.3? About 9 million. Excuse me? 9 million. Why is it not 6.7? Why isn't it 1.7 plus 2.3, or 2.7 and 2.3? Those are fiscal units, Ben. So we're going to go into fiscal 27, which is voted. So this is for the following year, which is FY28, 29, and 30, which is why those are bold red. 2.7, 2.2, 3.8. You need a vote. Okay. And then it's the number of the number. 7.5 to 9 million, as we're going to tell you the numbers.
Yeah. Yeah. So this is the first I've seen of it, so. Right. Well, I know. I'm going to say process. Let me do it. Do you have any more questions, Mr. Whitney, at this moment? Mr. Rettles. Thank you. I do refer to the MMA report, which I'm only halfway through. Oh, I think I should be bragging. I got halfway. But it did give me a scare that we may need to look at this differently than we have in past years. For those who haven't had a chance to look at it yet, the report says, as its major conclusion, that the normal pattern of overrides is towns get whipped into a frenzy, and they think success is getting the override to pass, and then themselves on the back, and they get some money, and they carry on. The fundamental real estate values that underscore why one would do an override so one could increase one's levy and get more money are now in question, according to the MMA report, which we could question or we could adhere to. But the point is, it begs the question, if we zoom out a notch and ask what is really going on in all of society, all the way to California, this is a perfect storm out there too. It seems like something has to change at a bigger level. And so broadly, what I'm asking is, is there any point in going to the state and asking for more money, that question came up a moment ago, or for a different way of borrowing money or a different way of obtaining it in the first place? What the state must love is when towns go to the state one by one individually, and then they can say, oh yes, something's in committee, thank you for visiting, we'll give you a parking shed. If a whole bunch of towns come together and explain this, be different. So let me back up what I just said. But I believe that this is already happening in South Hadley, if my memory's right, which I knew to a moment ago, this made the front page of the Wall Street Journal. The fundamental of passing an override wasn't going to work there. If it failed, it failed. And if it succeeded, it were failed, is now what they seem to be saying.
It seems to me we need to, even if it's just for thoroughness so we can claim we're as well managed as I think we are as we go about an override, we need to go to the state and make a different kind of case than we've ever made. And I doubt we want to go along. So my question is, is there a way to team up and syndicate and do this intelligently? So the MMA, the Massachusetts Municipal Association, which most cities and towns belong to, are effectively the lobbying arm of all the municipalities. And Adam Chapdelaine is the executive director and routinely they write position papers and put together articles like this and go back to the legislature and advocate on behalf of the 351 municipalities for additional state aid, advocating that the legislature re-examine proposition two and a half. I know that's not the greatest answer because that just, it's easy, I would think it's easy for the legislature to tweak proposition two and a half and then it falls back on a board like this to make a decision to, you know, increase tax rates. I should interject. I spoke with him on Friday and he would use much stronger and more colorful language than I did. Yeah. He thinks the system may be broken, which is why I'm. And I'm at the risk of offending some of our legislators. I've never understood why the cities and towns always have to keep going back to the legislature to ask for additional liquor licenses when we're the local liquor licensing authority. But a lot of times the system that we have here is you have to go up and ask them, you know, permission to do something that in most other states you can do on your own. So I think, you know, the state has its own budgetary problems. And if you go way back to around 2009, when probably around, that might've been the, as they refer to it, the great recession, then Governor Romney had to make what we call the emergency nine C cuts. And we started cutting into local aid. And if I think Brian may have a chart, if you go back and look at the trajectory of how we were getting state aid, that got reset and we've never really got back to that point. So we, we've been on our own for well over a decade as, when I say we, collectively those cities and towns. Which would be Mr. Vey's point. Right. We never really got back. If you include inflation on top of what you just said, we aren't even getting back in the game here. So we've got a pretty strong case to make. And there, there've been articles asking that they just restore us to the, those, those levels way back then. And if they were to plot that out and give us that money, we would be in a lot better position to ride out a lot of these, these bumps in the road. And I used to term bumps slightly. Well, both because it would help optically if we try to sell something to voters who want to see the town as well run. And also, actually, it seems to me, we ought to push, you ought to push there. Mm-hmm. Well, that's perfectly. And then my other question was just to push what Mr. Whitney was saying. I know we got bogged down in there and whether it's six or seven and a half or nine, but whatever the number is, are you, when do you think you'll have a coaching package for us, Brian? It'll be short, really, by the end of, you know, mid-August, late August, as we did the last two years. If Michael gets some of the bargaining contracts done, then we can work with real numbers instead of assumptions, I would say there's not a lot that's going to change between today and the end of August, except if we settle some of the contracts. So I think, like you said, in the middle of August, late August, it's been in the last two years, we'll have better numbers.
Thank you. I'm going to be quick because we're going to have the time here at the moment, but I want to give Carla a last chance if I am. I agree with my colleagues, Mr. Whitney and Mr. Royals have said, I would like to see some analysis here. You know, we, the select board, us five, have to explain to our 13,000 fellow residents why we're having an operating override, and I think I would feel comfortable knowing that we had done some analysis and made sure we looked at a lot of different things, some economies of scale, for example. I know we've talked a thousand times about outsourcing, we've consolidated in the payrolls so we don't have two payroll departments. I know there are a number of other, these things have been mentioned. I know the last time there was an override suggested, Steve Correa was on the committee, so he was always telling me this, a group that got together and made suggestions of where we might walk to find some funds. Maybe it only buys us one year, maybe it buys us two years, maybe it buys us nothing. But I think we need to do, I should rephrase it, I think we need to feel comfortable that we've done that due diligence before we have to pull the levy, yay or nay, and then operating over the ride. And I think that's a really important thing to do. Brian, I'm going to need some help there. Does this forecast include the additional levy that we're going to pick up in 28 from the reclassification of the River Road data? Yes, it already has it. It's already on the net, okay, that's it. But I really think that we should think about maybe suggestions and folks, you know, maybe things to look at, but where we might possibly have some savings. Do you think we need to be doing that simultaneously and also moving down the open path? Absolutely. We can't be waiting until whatever. I don't see, Madam Chair, we've been doing that all along. So when I first arrived here, they were forecasting an override in my first budget. And we've been looking for these ways to find monies. And we've been talking about the long-term financial forecast. And last year, I think we found some extraordinary ways to save money, because I really thought last year would have been the year that we may have been having this dialogue. Now, you've done a terrific job. Excuse me. You've done a terrific job. As I've said, you've pulled a ramp out of half for the last two years. But I do think that there might be some other ideas floating around that we might want to look at that might actually help us. But I also want to talk, too, about the big, when you talk about talking to the folks at the state, one of the biggest costs that we are facing, and you see this as a 10-year run. Over the next 10 years, we have to come up with $58 million to support the Middlesex retirement because they didn't achieve their revenue goals. Is that the right way to word it, Brian? Well, we've been assessed $58 million over the next 10 years. I think this warrants a conversation with legislators. 10 years, $58 million? Their returns on investment in Middlesex have performed as well as other retirements. That's right. And so now we need our projections. They need an infusion of funds, and our share of the cost, I think, is $58 million, and that's a big contributor here. So I do want to think we ought to put that on our discussion as well. To your point, the system's broken. The system's broken. How could you give us a bill for 10 years? I mean, we're paying over them in a minute. In a period where the market has done very well. But if you're not invested in them, yes, thank you. You were good. You were good. I find your mentions. I want to wrap this up, if I may, for tonight. I put down October, October, August. I put down something to revisit our August meeting, Brian. Carl, did you want to say anything before I thank everyone for coming? Well, only to actually, I think there are eight people at the table who may know the town code better than I do. But the finance committee recommends the budget to the town. We do not write it. Right. And I'm really glad for that distinction. I would, you know, follow up on what Mr. Payne said. We really look forward to working with these gentlemen sooner rather than later and do whatever help we can, but also, honestly, to get us up to speed so that we can think about it and be ready to recommend it, whatever the final version is. Great. Thank you. Thank you for coming, by the way. I appreciate it. Thanks for having me. I'm going to ask another question. Mike, baby. Always ask. Look, if I'm running late, I'm going to look right over here tonight. I'm getting a vibe from you. What's your gut this year, this time around? 428.
When you say gut, what do you mean? Is this a different cycle? Are things different? Or are people who are lobbyists and need to get paid and need to make noise in the media just saying it's different, but it's not? Is this a different override cycle? Is the next three years going to be different from overrides over the last four years? No, I think in the case of Wayland, I think clearly you're looking at 10 years of override just to produce a level service budget. As Michael said, we've been looking at this for a while. I think the $2.5 million number is pretty close to what we would need. Wayland has not had an override vote in 2009. 2009, 2008. There's been a significant period of time. So back to Mr. Whitney's point, if it turns out we only need $7 million, can we find $7 million and avoid an override? I guess that's a version of your question. I'm trying to get a stomach level probability for you about this. Is this a spending problem we have or a revenue problem? I don't think you have a spending problem. Or I think you have more of a revenue problem. More to the, if you take a look at the growth of the levy, but new growth. If we didn't have revenue's edge, we probably would have had an override a couple of years ago. I was dropped. Thank you very much. All right. Thank you very much, everyone. I want to move on to the executive session, if I may. So I move on to the select board and to the executive session. Thank you. Thank you. So I moved up to the select board and to the executive session, so into Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 38, Section 2183, to discuss strategy with respect to litigation listed below. If the chair determines a discussion in open session, we'll have a detrimental effect from the town to the beginning of the session. We have 12 cases. It's in the matter of Pascade Development, in the matter of Windsor Place, Kenneth Todd Nelson versus Town of Whelan Board of Health, Town of Whelan Conservation Commission, and that's all. Number four, Kenneth Todd Nelson versus Town of Whelan Board of Health, five, Dwayne Gallery versus Whelan's own zoning board and appeals, five, Omar Ezee versus Town of Whelan, and Arles, number one, seven, Sam Gibbons versus Town of Whelan, Jennifer Oidaway versus Town of Whelan, Town of Whelan, Bayham Food and Conservation Commission, and Frederick C. Manning's trust to see some Whelan Commerce Condominium Trust for Skilly Smiles, Whelan IAFF, local one since 1978 in the town of Whelan, and finally, in the matter of the planning, Office of Urban Affairs, Nate.
Secondly, in pursuance of Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 38, Section 21A7, to review or approved consent of session meetings since June 1, 2026, and June 8, 2026, that would be attached to a whole seven minutes. Is there a second to the motion to enter into an executive session? Second. Thank you. The chair declared that a call to start these matters may have a detrimental effect on the litigating, negotiating, or bargaining position of the town. The roll call roll. Mr. Whitton? Yes. Mr. Reynolds? Miss Cavie. Miss Cavie. Miss Cavie. Miss Cavie. Miss Cavie. Miss Cavie. Miss Cavie. So that's 5, 0, the chair of the vice of attendance by Michael McCall, the town manager, Elsie Powers, the town manager, Jane Labraddick, I'm the management analyst communications Communications Coordinator, Attorney Debra, K.P. Law, K.P. Law, Andy Leswell, Courtney Nail, Hacet, and Dave Dow, Massachusetts Interlocal Insurance Agency, Massachusetts M-I-I-A. The committee will be joined. A meeting from the executive session. The meeting will be going to open session. There may be an associate from K.P. Law joining as well. Miranda Sessel will be on Zoom, just observing. Okay. Miranda Sessel? Yes, Sessel. I also invite Miranda Sessel as an associate of Fort Worth Law. Now, the committee will rejoin the public meeting from the executive session. The meeting will return to open session approximately one hour and 15 minutes. I see the sign is up there. I think we're good to go. Thank you very much. This Blackboard is returning to open session at 8 a.m. I'm recording. Sorry? I see it. I see it recording. Oh, you didn't? I'm recording now? Yes, you are. Thank you. Okay. So we're now in open session again. And we're supposed to be having a joint meeting with the Board of Assessors. And it looks to me like the Board of Assessors are online. Hi there. Hi, Carol. Good evening. Hi. How are you? Zach? Do you have a quorum? We do have a quorum. We've got Steven and Yiji here as well. Hi. Do you need to call your committee to order? Yes. We had a meeting earlier today. So why don't we at 8.02 or I've got 8.01 p.m. this Monday, June 15th. We'll call a joint session with the Board of Assessors joining the Select Board by roll call vote. Zach Ventress here. Deep Lutgood here.
E.G. Brennan here.
And that's it, right? Three. And you're also joined by Mr. Lillard, right? Yes, Mr. Lillard. All right. Okay. So is the candidate there as well? Mr. I believe Flovis is planning to join you all in person. Okay. He's in person? Oh, my God. Don't turn it off the man I sent away. He's going to join by Zoom, right? So maybe you could reach out to him and tell him that we're ready to rock and move on. He may make it to him. I sent the wrong one. Uh-oh. I thought that was Mr. Bruss that was here. Um, he's at the, he believes he's at the Select Board meeting room. Is there? Who's the Select Board meeting room? Oh, there's a general room. Yes. Yes, hang on. We'll go again. Which, uh, which room are you guys in? Rob's getting in. What room is this called these days? The Wailing Commons. Could we please take the Select Board meeting sign off that room? This is, oh, well, I removed all of it. I'll get that done tomorrow. Thank you. I think that's terrible when that happens. It's the second time we've done this by default. This isn't that. All right. So he should be with you momentarily, right? Yeah. I've just hopped out of his office, I think, to, uh, to do that. So could we, um, on the screen, uh, the stuff on the right, could we get rid of that? Yeah, sure. So we could see everybody. Yeah. That's a little better, don't you? Yeah. That's a lot better. Hello. All right. Would you just join us here? Thank you. Yeah. Oh, we're going to thank you, Mr. Sharpie. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. So before we start, I'm just going to make sure everybody knows everybody. So we're going to have the members of the select board to say who they are. Maybe the members of the assessors could say who they are. And we all know who each other's are. So. Bill Whitney from the select board. Good evening. Chris Reynolds. Yeah. Carol Martin, select board. Tom Fay. Hey, Doug Levine. Okay. And from the assessors we have? Yeah. Zach Ventress. Thank you. Be good, Gord. I don't see you, Steve, but okay. I don't. Yeah. I, I, I lost my picture someplace. I guess I'm incognito. I have no idea how to fix it. Okay. And? And? E.G. Brennan. Thank you. And the candidate here is Mr. Yeah, Julie's chef. We've interviewed you before, I think. Yes. All right. So the purpose of this meeting is just for those who are watching, and by the way, we're on page six of the packet, is that the, the board of assessors had a candidate who was a write-in, I think, for the election. Rob will correct me if I'm wrong here. And then was unable to serve, so withdrew. So the board of assessors has asked the select board to help them fill the vacancy, which will be until the next town election. So whether that's in April or May, whenever we have it, this person, we will be filling the vacancy just until we have the next town election at which time, obviously, hopefully somebody will run for the position. So we have one candidate before us. We will each have a chance to ask a question of the candidate who left and makes an opening statement, after which hopefully we'll have a nomination and then take a vote and go from there. So the floor is yours, sir. Okay. And there is, your information is on page six, I think, of our capacity. So good to meet you or see you again, everyone. So my name is Clovis Schaaf. I'm a resident of Weyland since 2013. I've got two high school boys, nine, or 10th grade, I should say rising 10th, rising 11th. So yeah, last time I interviewed, it was for the Energy and Climate Committee that I've joined for a couple of months now. And so professionally, I'm, well, personally, I'm French and American. So that's where my accent is coming from. My wife is French as well. Can you hear me well? Yes. Okay. And thank you. And professionally, I'm in software engineering. So managing teams in SAS B2D environment. So it's with an engineering background, strong engineering background, and it's heavy data driven, and the work that I'm typically doing. And I had also a past experience with the, I think, an appeal to the board of assessors a couple of years back. So that's when I could see a lot, a bit more, I would say not a lot more how the process is working. We have a score count. We have plenty of parameters that go into account for assessing based on past year's sales. And yeah, I got an opportunity firsthand to see how it was done. And that the key principle is to keep it fair and transparent for past crisis and public information cards. And so I liked the process back then, honestly. So it was a formal visit at my house with a town employee, making sure that everything was legit from the score count and doing minor adjustments. So I got a lower, not as low as I wanted, but it looked fine with the other prices I was giving in comparison. So I was happy with the process and also felt comfortable with it. I will say I didn't know how it was working in a lot of detail. So I attended also back then to one meeting to see how it was run. And so with regular review for the whole inventory of houses to make sure that everyone gets their share, let's say, of house assessment review with accurate information. So what I like is the transparency and the fairness in the process. What I will say from the data, I can see here and there, there might be a bit of noise. So there is complicated. You've got a score count on one side, then you've got plenty of electronic building permits for upgrades. And I could see from my side on the energy and climate, that's not everything is always in sync. So that would be a kind of a pet project on my end, I think, to try and see how the tools are used, what's the process behind, how the people are working to update information and where I could help. Basically, if there are holes in the processes, I think more importantly, how I could prep that. And I know Zach from the committee, and I'm also very happy to have the opportunity to join. I'm going to start with the, thank you. I'm going to start with the board of assessors to see if they have questions. Zach, did you want to start?
I believe, you know, as Clovis was, as you had stated, he was a write-in candidate. There was actually a candidate on the ballot who had successfully, you know, won one of the two positions. Gigi was also a write-in candidate. And so Clovis was third in line. And so I believe, you know, the board, Clovis has introduced himself and, you know, I think has a strong interest in volunteering to ensure that, you know, Weyland is, you know, runs smoothly. So, I have no questions for Clovis. Okay, thank you. To Steve or, oh my God, I can't read the names from here. Do you have any questions for Clovis? I don't have any questions for Clovis. I was the one that originally was encouraging Earl, who had to back out to run. And everything I've seen about Clovis suggests that he would be a good addition to our board. So, I highly support the idea of giving him the appointment. Okay, thank you. Anybody else? Rob or?
E.G., I don't have any questions. Thank you. Thank you. It's so small, but it's way over there, but I read it. Thank you. And, Rob, do you have a question or a comment? Well, I think you're on mute. You're on mute.
Sorry about that. We desperately need another member, and Clovis seems like an ideal candidate. Great. Thank you. Okay. I'm going to go to the select board now. Select board members, do you have... Mr. Levine, do you have a question for Mr. Shaw? Mr. Levine, we very much appreciate you stepping up and serving in multiple capacities. I know you touched on this a little bit through explaining how you participated in the process and watched one of the meetings, but I am curious why the board of assessors versus a number of other boards in town, what really piqued your information? I guess my professional background with tools involving lots of data. So, I'm interested in on a personal level as well to understand more how the tool is working and how it's operated by employees of the town. It's heavy data driven as well. So, there is machine learning behind the scene, which is something of interest for me as well. So, that's a combination of lots of data and machine learning. That interested me in that room, that board, sorry, specifically. Thank you. Mr. Levine. I have a comment and question. First, thanks for serving on the Energy and Climate Committee.
Incidentally, we have another candidate coming for us tonight who will be applying for his third board of committee in town. So, we don't see that too often. So, we appreciate your service to the town. My question is, I see you're a coach in the town soccer program. Do you feel confident that France will go deep? Oh, you're in the town. So, they lost against Igory Coast. So, I think that's why they dropped by two places from first to third in their FIFA ranking. We'll see tomorrow, their first game. I'm gonna support them. So, with my support, hopefully, they'll go beyond the group after Norway. Good luck to the team. Thank you. It's a super great moment for the next month to watch lots of soccer, or I should say. Yes. Lots of fun. Mr. Reynolds. I have no questions. Thank you for your service. I thought your letter was great. And I take this opportunity. I express compassion for the fellow producer about the situation. Thanks for being here. Thank you. Let me add my thanks to those of my fellow board members for your willingness to step forward. What are the data that you envision working with? What is the process? And how would you see yourself fitting in with the assessment of those data? Yeah, I think it's learning more from Rome for it's working basically and pain points right now, if there aren't pain points in the process for the tools and see if I could automate anything with my IT skill. It's kind of an idea that is floating in my head, I think. And also, what I'm wondering is, you know, the data which is applied before 2020 for permitting as an example. That's something that I'd love to have access to, to complete, you know, the matching with property details. I don't know how that's possible at all, but something I'd like to explore as well. Thank you. And I thank you for stepping up as well. This is an important board. It's uh, helps us, like you're saying, make sure that all the houses, everyone's paying their fair share and, and that those who feel maybe they need to have their share adjusted or looked at have an opportunity to come before the board. So they do a lot of work for us in town. So, um, with that, I think we have concluded the questions. So, um, Zach, would you like to make a motion or would you like the select board to do it? Um, I, I can make a motion to, um, approve Clovis as a candidate, uh, to fill out the remainder of the term for the, uh, open Board of Assessors seat. You need to conclude on, at the end of 2027 Annual Time Meeting? That's the, that's the motion. So we're going to, is that acceptable, Zach? Uh, yes. Yeah. If you can add that detail of when that, uh, term would end, that would be great. Right. So we need a second, please. Second. Thank you. So all those in favor, Zach? Aye. Thank you. Steve? Aye. Thank you. Eugene? Yes. Aye. Thank you. Doug? Yes. Tom? Yes. Chris? Yes. Bill? Yes. And Carol? Yes. So it's unanimous. So, um, um, the end of a little spare while you went on to do it. You still have been, go ahead.
Sir, you will receive a letter in the coming days from the town clerk's or town manager's office, at which point that you will want to take that letter, go into the town clerk's counter, and they will officially swear you in and also give you some information about conflict of interest law training that you need to complete. At that point, you do become an official voting member and welcome aboard. Okay. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. And then Doug and Carol, he'll also receive an invitation to take, uh, the assessing 101 offered by the department of local services or division of local services. So, um, and I believe that that concludes our, our portion of this kind of joint agenda. And so I, I think with, um, a roll call vote, uh, EG, Steve and myself and Rob will, uh, we'll exit and not return. And then return. Okay. Okay. Okay. So, so we'll, we'll depart and adjourn the, uh, joint portion of this meeting and the board of select, sorry, the board of assessors will, uh, it'll drop. Okay. Okay. Zach. Thank you. Thank you for joining us. Bye. Bye. Thank you. You're all set as well. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Nice to meet you. We'll see you again. All right. Um, the next item on our list is a little bit confusing. We were scheduled to have a hearing tonight in the villa and I saw the memo in the packet. Um, there was a confusion of the paperwork that they received or the advice they received regarding the paperwork. So in that case, what they have done is they are now withdrawing. The applicants is not going to appear here, but because we've posted this, I have to do the open it and close it for us. Okay. So I'm going to clearing, we're going to have an open for the purpose of considering the application file, but the constituent restaurant group, LLC, DVA, the villa restaurant for the application amendment, the change of ownership interest. Right. The notice that appeared in the Metro West Daily newspaper on Friday, May 29, 2026 read as follows. Notice is hereby given that the Wayland select board will hold a public hearing on Monday, June 15, 2026, beginning at 8 15 PM at the Wayland town building, which is at 41 constituent road in the mass and remotely for the application filed by Alexander Mario on behalf of the constituent restaurant group, LLC, DVA, the restaurant. This public hearing is for change of ownership interest and a change of LLC manager on for an annual all alcoholic liquor license. And that's going to be ABCC number 06669-RS-1340. The hearing can be attended on zoom review remotely and the zoom link will be made available the day of the meeting. And this will be at the Wayland town calendar. So the application, as I said, has rescinded this application for correction for a later date. So there'll be no presentation tonight or deliberation with this application. So now I'm going to move to close the hearing. Can I need a second? Second. Thank you. And then I need votes to close the hearing. So, um, but you know, we're all here, so I don't have to do a roll call. All those in favor? All right. So I'm used to having somebody back here. Hearing is closed 5-0. So there was no decision for the application and no motion is needed in this case. So I do want to add that this process has been restarted and we actually will have this hearing next meeting on the 29th. All right. Happy to do with the consent calendar for June 22nd. I think number eight is appointments to the committees. No, I know, but what kind of roll is that? Well, they're right here. They're all here. Yeah. Let's see if the applicants are available online. There should be four people applying for positions. Um, I see, um, this must be Mr. Murdoch. Mr. Russ said he was going to come in on, um, there we are. There's our student applicant, I think. Mr. Russ is not on yet. We're missing two. No, I, is there any more there? Murdoch, you can go back to your account. Yeah, you can look great. You can look great at Murdoch. I do that. It's not really a nice thing to do. Okay.
Okay, so let's go to consent. We'll wait a minute for everyone to pop up for, um, Happy to move the consent calendar for June 15th, 2022.
All right. All those in favor of the consent, say aye. All right. Mr. Bass is 5-0. All right. Um, how about correspondence? Any comments on correspondence?
I have one thing on correspondence, and that is I received, I think we all did, an email regarding a survey in the state, uh, groups putting together about the pilot program and the use of the state land, and, um, you can participate in the survey, which I strongly suggest everyone do. It's about the pilot program for the state land, and it also, um, there's an opportunity, I think, to participate in a, either an in-person or a Zoom discussion. It was actually in my other, uh, rather than my regular inbox, if you can find it. Okay. That's terrific. Particularly in view of the, the, um, what's going on in Wellesley at the Mass Bay property over that state-owned land, that's development there. I thought this was really timely. All right. I think we've done with Kennedy. I'm sure you have a comment on correspondence? Yes. May. So I want to acknowledge about Larry's email regarding property, you know, his property, relative to a dangerous condition. It's been the case for some time. The matter's in litigation, therefore I can't speak on litigation, but I just wanted to, um, uh, stay in my agreement with Mr. Lowry's email. It's, it's been way too long for that condition to be in its current condition, but the town is making best efforts to address it. We could go back to member nine. These are just, uh, reappointments. Oh, you do that. Do that still? Sure. What page are we on? Oh, I got five minutes. Page 22 or minutes in the packet. Happy to move minutes, um, as amended for Monday, May 18th, 2026. Thank you. All right. Does anybody have any edits for the minutes? Uh, what did you say? May 18th. May 18th. On page six, third paragraph, there's a missing word. Ann Jones added that she could insert the word found that I would suggest the League of Women Voters Forum to be helpful. Yeah. A eight. I believe that I, in the last sentence, suggested having only one meeting in August, I don't know, or two. Wow. But I reckon. Says here, one or two. I'm correcting him. Are you amending them? No, I'm correcting him. Oh, correcting him. Do you have any, um, other edits, sir? I do not. Anybody else? I think on A10, on the, uh, A, under the recap, uh, the recent Ribbon Cutting Tower restaurant ad, I think that it's, it's, ah, Bill, how could you have missed this? The comments, the apostrophe is supposed to be before the S, I think, yeah. Excuse me? There should be no apostrophe here at all. I, I have that noted, actually, but I suffered the slings and arrows of abuse, uh, talking about punctuation. Well, I, I, I made note of it for my own edification. I will, I will. If nobody else has any other edits to, uh, May 18, let's pull, all those in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. Okay, let's go. Abstain. Abstain. Abstain. Okay, back up. It is it. So all those opposed, and then those who abstain? Abstain. So three, zero, two. Correct. Okay. I move the minutes, other minutes for June 1st, 2026. Thank you. As a method? As a method, that's correct. Of course. Anybody have any edits? Mr. Whitney? I already know. Anybody else? Good.
Yeah, um, on A8, I'm, I'm pretty sure you're still this correctly. On the motion, Mr. Whitney moved, seconded by Levine. It's not to appoint, Mr. Turner. We have to confirm it because this is a moderator. LXR1 is going to be a moderator committee. So that should say confirm. If we did it wrong, we have to redo it. Confirm the appointment. Yeah, confirm the appointment. You made sure we did it, right? I remember. I did. Yeah, I thought we did. But if not, I'll go back and fix it. And on A10, could you just verify that's the correct spelling of Jeffrey's last name? I thought there was an E in there. Sure. I thought it was W-E-I-L. Hold on.
And it does say here equity audit. And I know people were saying that at the meeting, but actually it's an equity assessment. So I do want to make that. We can't change it because we said it. But going forward, we need to, I don't know, think about that. It's correct. It's correct. Okay, good.
And this was the other one. I'm sure this is what we voted, but we might have a teeny problem here. We voted on A14 time. We voted the leadership in for a term ending with the close of the 27th annual hotel meeting. So that means that the next week, before we vote anybody else into the leadership, we have no leadership. Although I guess we can stay until someone gets appointed, right? So you should, how do you usually phrase it, the first meeting after the 2027? No, we just voted in as the leadership in there. And when we take the vote, we do the vote because it varies. Should I redo this next week? Maybe. Yeah. If we need to, we should do it. Well, I just, this is basically my question. I'm sure this is what we said, but I'm wondering if I have to, um, so we just say so and so and so and so. We'll serve. Okay. You know, basically it's till further notice, I guess that's all. Okay. All right. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Or the Jones. I'm us. Okay. Let's see. I think we have, are there candidates here now? No. No? 827. You should be here. Um, can you ever put out the, the participants in these? Sure. Okay. Yeah. See, let's do it.
So maybe, um, yeah, sure to text them. Yeah. Well, Mr. Brass, I told him at 825, it was only 825. It's 827. It's 827. Okay. Well, he was some, he was some big fan. Well, maybe not a big person. I don't know if he was. But, um, Mr. Storer is here. Why don't you do here? Right? Mr. Storer? All right. Would you like to join us? Yes. Karen, do you know how were the rest of the applicants? I've lost them. Yeah. Yes. I, because that's me, right? I'm talking to you, yes. Yes. Um, I have to apologize. I thought out of my house without my cell phone. And so, if they're trying to reach me, I do not have my cell phone to report to you. What do you say? I, they are all supposed to be here and I don't know what's happening. Well, mine's here and mine. Two. But we're supposed to have four. Oh, yeah. If you'd like to. Actually, just to see. So, why don't we interview Storer first and then if you ever still come. Mr. Bruss was here earlier. He was here about, I would say like six or six. Yeah. Six? He was. Do you have an email on the phone? No, um, I can look. I can, I, we do. Yeah. You have an email for him and you, uh, and you've been up here. Oh, he doesn't have cell phone. No. I don't have a phone. I don't have a phone. I don't have a phone. I don't have a phone. No. Too shy. Okay. Listen. Yes. I could do it. Yeah. Okay. So, let's go back up to page. Um, it's on the outside. Page four. Page four. And Mr. Storer has a five-four position on the honkrum. How are you? I'm good. Thank you for joining us. going to interview the HRDEI candidates first, but since they haven't come, we were going to interview you. Great. We were talking about your interest in joining the Conservation Commission, so do you want to tell us all about that? Yeah, I live at Nine Brewster. I'm currently on the Board of Health and on the Public Works Board, and I've been working with Linda over the years on different projects, and I've mentioned to her in the past to let me know if there's an opening, and she did. So I'm an excavation contractor, and I work mainly Concord Carlisle, Weston, Lincoln, that area. I just think I could be an asset to her because I read plans well, and I've utilized a lot of the erosion control methods and water treatment systems that get utilized. Thank you. So what we do is really, the board members will ask a question, and then we'll just go from there. Okay. So Mr. Levine, would you like to start? You would not like to start. Mr. Reims? I'm all set. Thank you. You're all set. Hi, I'm Bill Whitney. I don't think we've met. We have your email expressing interest, but not much about your background. Have you been in town for a while? I've been in town for 14 years. Okay.
Previously Carlisle. And I guess the other question is, you know, between your work and family, do you have time to start with three boards? Well, the other boards, one's remote, one is once a month, and we have no kids at home anymore, and I'm self-employed, so I kind of make my own hours. I believe so. Thank you.
Thank you. I have a question for you. How's your experience bound on the other two boards take you, sir? This is my second term on the Board of Health, and I enjoy it, and I was a write-in candidate for the public works. Early on in the game? Yeah, just started. The first meeting is tomorrow night. All right. We had a meeting a month ago. Okay. Well, thanks for your service on those two, and thanks for the candidacy for the content. Thank you, Mr. Storer. One thing I would add to my colleague, Mr. Whitney's question regarding time is, from my experience observing the Conservation Commission, it can be, on occasion, a lot more substantive, some of these hearings, and I think it takes some time to become acclimated with some of the town bylaws and the state laws regarding wetlands, for example, and so I think it's commendable that you want to serve the town in three different capacities. I think, at times, you could expect the Conservation Commission to be a heavier lift in some respects, in terms of preparation for the meetings, and not just the meetings themselves. I expect that. I'm familiar with orders of conditions. I work a lot with the other, in wetlands, with other towns, and so I'm very familiar with regulations and setbacks, and I understand all that. Looks great. Already. Thank you. Plus, Mr. Levine, he is an escalator, so he can handle that. Happy to hear the knowledge. So, I'm a one-man band. I don't own a company with 10 employees. It's just me. So, it's, I, from the bidding to the shoveling, I do it all. So, wow. I, I, I'm actually, I'm kind of impressed that somebody wants to serve and is willing to serve three boards currently. I do, I, I, I am a, the board's liaison to the board of health, the board of health, the board of public works, and they tend to meet once a month. Once in a while, they have something else, and they're pretty quick. They're a couple-hour meetings. Yeah. And they're all doing 100%. Yeah. Once remote came, that was it. They don't use their conference room. Well, we could use it. So, I mean, I was surprised when they told me that it was 100% remote, so. It is 100%, but once in a while, they have a forum or something, and we don't come in person, and that's it. But, uh, I do, I don't know how often the board of health meets, but I think they're about once a month as well. So, but I do think will be interesting in terms of, very impressed. I mean, I mean, we're all saying it's a heavy lift, but let me look at how often we meet. So, you know, so anyways, we appreciate that. Well, the board of health, um, I'm on with a bunch of doctors, and I'm the only one that's not. So, I, I kind of, I was recruited to sort of join, um, Julia wanted someone that couldn't read the plans and, you know, understood septic systems, because we do a lot of septic variances, and that's, we do more voting on that than a lot of other things. So, um, I think it was important to her to have somebody that could help everyone. So. Good choice as well. All right. I think, um, unless anybody else has any questions, how about if we have a motion, please? I believe that, uh, Joan Thorby appointed to an opening of the Conservation Commission with a term expiring June 30th, 2029. Second. Thank you. Is there any further discussion? Otherwise, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Carries 5-0. Um, Mr. Levine's going to give me the speech. You probably know I'm going to vote on the article, but guess what? We're going to give you the speech anyway. All right. Go ahead. So, in order to become an official voting member, you need to be sworn in by the town clerk. Just wait until you receive a letter from the town manager's office. Bring that letter over to the town clerk. Uh, she will give you some information about conflict of interest law training and administer the official oath, and then you can become an official voting member. Thank you, sir. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for coming in person. So, I think it's better. So, I mean, I'm disappointed when they said that the public works was wrong.
Thank you. Thank you. All right. Um, you know what? I'm just really concerned about what happened to Mr. Voss because he was here. I think I just saw him. I think I just saw him. You saw him on there? I could. Yeah, I can. Okay. Now. Good. Yeah, there he is. All right. Would you like to join us, sir? You're Mr. Murrock, right? Yes. Yes. Would you join us, please? Maynames up, um, no, that's it. Maynames up, um, no, that's it. Maynames up, um, no, that's it. Ask Maynames. Ms. Libdy, how do you pronounce your first name? Mariam. Pleasure. Thank you. Welcome. Um, and Mr. Voss, where is he?
We lost him? No, I should be here. It says Kenneth, that might be him. Yeah, he's on mute. He's going to turn his video and audio on.
I don't see his face though. There we go.
Thank you for joining us, Mr. Voss, again.
Thought we had lost you, so we waited for you to to come in. So, um, why didn't there, there were four candidates, I think, who had expressed interest in joining the HRDEI committee. We have two online and then we have one in front of us. Kyle Davids. I'm sorry? Kyle Davids. Yeah, I think that's a student. Is that a student? Kyle's a student. So perhaps they'll pop up yet. If you see Mr. Mr. Kyle Davids, is it Davidson? Yes, Kyle Davids. Davids, let me see him, have everything on there. So anyway, we have four spots, four candidates and we have one voting position on the HRDEI. And then we have, um, three non-voting positions open. So I think we'll do is we'll interview all the candidates together. So everyone will have a chance to, um, give a two-minute or two-second whatever speech that you'd like to talk, tell us about yourself a little bit. And then we'll have some questions from the board. And then we'll, it's very informal here, as you can say, what we did from the last candidate. So, Ms. Libby, would you like to start first and talk to us about your interest? Because I know you already are serving on the board. Yeah, sure. Um, so I, uh, started serving on the board as an associate member in 6-16-2025. Uh, and I'm applying to, uh, transition to a voting member. Um, I mean, so far, you know, being on the board helped me understand the dynamics in town more, uh, make more connections, understand community partners. And I feel like, you know, I want to take that next step to be more on the proactive side.
Thank you. Um, should I just do this statement for you? Yeah, yeah. Um, Mr. Bross, would you like to tell us if you're interested in, um, participating or joining the HRDEI, maybe please? Ah, here we go. Mr. Mr. Davidson? Pull up a chair.
What did you have here? Thank you. Sorry, I'm waiting for that. I think you're muted. No, I'm not muted. I think his mic is probably down from right. Why is his mic? Can you get him? His mic is not muted. I think it's on his, uh, his end. Let us come, let us computer. Get him. All right. Um, let's get in there by phone. What? Oh, my goodness. Mr. Bross, we can't hear you. Can you call my cell phone and we'll get you in on, uh, um, through my cell phone? Okay, let me give you the number when you're ready. It's going out over the airwaves. Yeah. Sure. He could, he could, you can email him if he wants. Oh. Yes. Email him a number, Bob. Yeah. We can do that. We're going to email you my number, okay? So. I think we got to find this. We need to find his email. Email me. What was your name? Or if he wants to email the town manager. I know. He sent an email, which is in the packet. I don't know if that's alive. No, I clicked on it. All right. You can email the town, town manager at wayland.ma.us and I'll get right back to him. It's complex. It is complex. Okay. Mr. Murdoch, would you like to share with your interest in the committee with us, please? Yes. Thank you very much. Uh, yes. I would like to reply to a member of the HRDIC. I believe I have a lot to offer, um, personal background, professional background. I've been, uh, resident of Wayland since 2005 and I believe it's a great opportunity for me to give back to the town and to, um, help support the initiatives to make the town more open, more inclusive, um, and to make it a more waffling place for everyone. Thank you. And you want to speak kind of? Yes. Um. We're just sharing why we would like to participate on the, um, HRDIC. Obviously you're, you're applying for one of the student positions. Yes. Um, as a high schooler, um, I think I believe there's two student positions. Um, and I'd like to, uh, be one of them because I feel like I have lived in this town my whole life. I want to, you know, uh, at least, you know, be there on, you know, help with this town or at least, you know, be present while other people are. Um, and, uh, I, um, I'm interested in joining this committee, um, because I think this town should be like more connected and, uh, this is a good way to do that. Thank you. Thank you. All right. What does anyone, um, is Mr. Bus up yet? No. Okay. Sorry. Sorry. Uh, do you. All right. So anybody, why don't we throw some questions for the three candidates that have spoken, um, already? And then when Mr. Bus comes, able to get on, we'll connect him up as well. So. Should I start? Yes, I would. Thank you. Are there any examples of some things you might do if elected was impressed by your comment about an activity and how long you've lived in town and things you'd like to do? Yes. Uh, I believe the town, uh, and it's a suburban environment. It creates a situation where people are spread out. Yeah. So I think having opportunities, people can come together, uh, informally, socially, be able to exchange views, uh, talk about their concerns and find, uh, a friendly area that they can talk to. I think that we can create various ways that we can do that, whether it's, uh, like coffee get togethers. I think we can have, uh, you know, not summertime. I think it's a great opportunity for people to be outside or can get together as well. I know there are certain activities already in plan where we have cultural activities, uh, that promote awareness, um, understanding of other cultures. And with my background from Latin America, I believe that I can contribute to that as well and become part of the organizers, part of the people are, uh, running the events. I think that I can serve many capacities to support initiatives. Likewise. Could you elaborate? Do you have an example or two or something you'd like for, um, initiative or something? Well, I feel like last, um, like all town event I can think of is, um, that one for the 250th newbie, uh, uh, uh, town center. And I think that was like a perfect thing. Cause it, it brought, you know, everyone in the town, all of my friends were there, there. And like the people who sell things or, you know, anyone with a hobby to, um, can show it in the town. And it really is, you know, you see the, the Wayland post, you see all these different aspects of town in the same place. And I feel like it, it shouldn't only be done for the 250th of the country. I think that could be done every year. Um, for just for, you know, a town. Thank you. Miss Lindy. Can you hear me? Yes, I can. Great. I was impressed by your comment and you had to be general. Could you give an example or two of initiatives you have in mind for why you'd like to become a voting member? Your Honor. Yeah, sure. Um, so one of the initiatives that we were, uh, floating, the ideas floating around is, uh, maybe creating some kind of a chain of support groups for people in town, uh, to try to bring them together on things they have in common or concerns or concerns or challenges. So I'm trying to come at this in a, in a different way. Uh, you know, uh, two birds, one stone, uh, it will serve people's needs at the same time. It will bring people from different backgrounds together. Um, other, I think I'm not only thinking initiative wise, I'm trying to think of this board as, uh, a board that, I guess, um, sees what's going on in the community and gives recommendations to other groups in town because we have this diverse group of people sitting intentionally together to discuss, uh, this specific need. Um, so this is how I'm, I'm looking generally at it. And the initiatives come up when, you know, we connect with our, with other community partners, when, when, you know, people who have some ideas or capacities or skills, uh, stand up and, and, and, and present what they have and ask for the support and connection. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Bruss, can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? Oops. Yeah, we can hear you, Mr. Bruss. Go ahead. Would you like to give us a, just a couple, um, of the interest? Sure. Yes. Because I mentioned when I applied for the Council of Aging Board, I'm at a stage in my life where I'm retired. My focus is being altruistic and I'm looking to utilize the professional skills I've developed. Uh, I agree with everything I've heard. Um, I'm going to raise one different perspective though. Uh, I've been about for 20 years in interfaith work. I was one of the founding members of an organization in Lexington called Lexington United Against Anti-Semitism. And I'm aware of the incidents here. Uh, and the fact is, is that although Jews represent 2% of the US population, nearly 70% of all hate crimes reported in the United States are targeted at Jews. And the statistics are only increasing. I think the challenge is that frequently we get engaged in a either us versus them approach or as what's happened in Wayland and what happened in Lexington is there'll be an anti-Semitic incident. The issue of the misappropriation of the Hindu religious symbol of a swastika gets brought up. There's focus there. there, but then the focus on the anti-Semitic hate crime gets dropped. And what I hope to achieve is that we deal with empathetically and sensitively both dynamics, being concerned about both communities. And as I said, Wayland has been pretty minor, but yet there have been two incidents in the past few years statistically across the United States, even in Massachusetts. Massachusetts. In Massachusetts last year, over 85% of all religiously motivated hate crimes targeted Jews. Last year, there was an increase of 24%. So my goal is to be inclusive. My goal is to not be us versus them. But on the other hand, I want to be a voice to proactively be aware of what the issues are. Now, I don't know if the human rights committee is the right place to be doing this or not. Because I know in Lexington, you know, we had our, we formed an organization that was, you know, that was very largely an interfaith piece. They had collaboration of all of the local, you know, clergy. But I think that certainly this is a starting place because I want to ensure that we're dealing proactively to bring this on the table. But again, that isn't because I'm not concerned about everything else with regards to inclusiveness and welcoming, you know, everyone feeling comfortable and belonging. But I bring a unique perspective to proactively deal with a dangerous emerging trend. Thank you, sir. All right. So now everybody has given us a brief overview. So, and Chris has already asked a question. Don't you have any questions? Yes. Thank you. First, I'd like to observe that it's wonderful that we have three people seeking one available position on the committee. So I think it speaks to the effectiveness of the committee. I guess my only question for each of the candidates for the voting position is would you be willing to serve in a non-voting capacity given that we have only one voting position presently available? I know. Yes. Thank you. I know. All right. Thank you. Mr. Bross or Ms. Lipty, what do you think? Yes, sure. The important thing is to contribute to the conversations and be at the table. Mr. Bross, if there's only one voting position and there are three non-voting, is a non-voting position also acceptable? Yeah, it would be. Thank you. As I said, my interest in the voting position is because I want to ensure that I can have maximum impact. But if it's a non-voting position, that's an alternative as well. Okay. Thank you. Also, thank you. Mr. Levine. To ask a question, maybe demanding a little bit more of a thoughtful answer that I'm curious about is we certainly have had our share of hate incidents in Wayland, both race-related hate and religious-related hate, just in recent times going back within the last three years. How do all of you believe that this committee can somehow be proactive in the face of some of these hate incidents going forward? We're going to start. Yeah, we're starting. Ms. Liberty? Yeah, sure. I mean, of course, if specific initiatives should be discussed with the group. But one of my favorite initiatives that the body took while I was serving is the conversations for change that happened in the library. I feel like more things like that, that bring people together for authentic conversations is much needed in this town, especially that, unfortunately, like even structurally, we don't have a lot of public places that bring Waylanders together. Hopefully that changes slowly with the Wayland town center. But that is, that is a big, I feel like that's a big piece of, it's a big obstacle that we have that people don't have spaces to come together. Everyone tends to go outside Wayland to hang out in a coffee shop or whatever. We don't have those here. You know, there's the new Duncan where all the kids are, but we do need more spaces where people can go and casually meet others. So just having more initiatives like that, I feel like. And then, you know, reflecting on my time with the board, I hope that this body has, has like a more ripple effect to its voice, I guess. I hope it's consulted more, that other partners collaborate with it more, that other town bodies consult with it and collaborate with it as well. There's much potential in that group. There's so much, you know, learning going on even while people are talking. So definitely I hope to see it take a more proactive role and, and be valued more in town. Thank you. Mr. Brown? I guess I agree. Unfortunately, I had some health issues, so I couldn't be as actively involved in the conversation series as I wanted to be. But I think that was a valuable first step. And I support continuing that. I'm also interested in getting a clearer understanding of procedures we have in place. So I've been following some of the developments that the public school system has developed. I'm looking into things like the Liberty Team. I've shared with Karen some programs that are being developed in other communities. So I think a starting point is, rather than being reactive to try and identify ahead of time, how do we deal across the community when incidents occurred? And again, in Lexington, we had a number of programs with the schools, with the library, to proactively deal with things. Thank you. And I think we can continue in that regard. Thank you. And once again, not to confuse government and religion. I'm new here, but I'm reaching out to learn more about the work that Whale and clergy are doing interdenominationally to be doing this type of effort. Thank you. Because we need to be building alliances, not everybody advocating their own cause. Appreciate that. Dr. Murda? Yes. So I believe that more social activities will help a great deal. Having people mingle with each other, get to know each other and interact socially. I believe that continuing the work that has already happened with the Conversations for Change and other activities like those that are more organized and public settings where people can learn techniques on how to address different scenarios and how to resolve them constructively. And then the third will be to work with the youth throughout the school system. I believe that all of those will be very effective. Mr. Dave? I feel like just huge town events to give us one community. It's pretty hard to hate someone when you're intertwined like that. I feel like that's necessary because my school alone has had some pretty bad incidents with Whale High School having the past three-ish years two racist incidents and one anti-Semitic. And I feel like if we bring our town together doing things like the 250th, doing things like there was a iftar thing during Ramadan that was a town event with the Whale High School MSA and who saw us. And that educates people. And things like that, even if an event hasn't happened, it's best to, you know, make everyone knowledgeable about like everyone else's lives. And with, you know, with 13,000 people in the town, there's got to be, you know, a lot of no one's the same. A lot of different people and a lot of different beliefs and stories and identities. Appreciate it. That's it. That's it. That's it. Just a question. Mr. Davidson, when do you graduate from high school? Do you anticipate you'll be in the area or you move out of town for school or something else after you graduate? I graduate next year, 2027. Okay. Um, I want to be in a college in New England, preferably, you know, this area has a lot of colleges to offer. So I could definitely do virtual meetings. Um, but, um, I don't know if I'd be able to show up to them in person as I am now. The reason I ask is if a member tonight chooses to move to have you a non-voting member being a student, would that be a term in 2027, 2028, or 2029? So maybe 2027 would be appropriate? Yes. Okay. Thank you. I thank everyone for showing interest. It's terrific for us. We filled with a lot of positions tonight. We have a lot of volunteers in town. They all bring a lot of wonderful expertise and talented skills, you know, which makes our town better and more exciting and why everybody wants to come live here. So having said that, um, do we have a motion? Yeah, I'll, I'll start and move that we, this board appoint Herman Murdoch as the voting member for term. Excuse me. I think, um, this, uh, Libby's already on the committee's and she, there's a, there's a voting member. Oh, yeah. So we, I don't know. I should have said that. Sean did. We've got it backwards. All right. We're tied. We're tied. We're tied. We're tied. We're tied. We've appointed the voting member of the HRDIC for term ending June 30th, 2028. Second. Okay. Any further discussion? All those in favor say aye. All right. Okay. That's okay. I move then that, um, applicants, Mr. Murdoch and Mr. Pross, uh, be. So I think Kyle was this one too. That one. I don't know. I'll let's draw that motion and move that Mr. Davidson be appointed as a non-voting member of the HRDIC for term ending June 30th, 2027. Second. Thank you. Any further discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Motion passes 5-0. All right. I move that, um, Mr. Bruss be appointed as a member of the HRDIC for term ending June 30th, 2029. Second. Any further discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. That's 5-0. I move that, um, Mr. Bruss be appointed as a member of the HRDIC for term ending June 30th, 2027. Non-voting member. June 30th, 2027. Thank you. Any further discussion? I had a question. Yes. Is it appropriate for Mr. Bruss to, um, be considered in the context of the civil discourse and that he brought up himself that he may not be well-placed in this committee? Right. I'm just trying to be brief, um, or actually moving forward a bit. Yeah. I, I think it's a great question, but I'll say that his perspective is a healthy perspective. That was awesome. Yeah. All right. So. Do you need to take the vote? Yeah. I am getting confused, but there you go. I'm unraveling my head. Okay. If there's no further discussion on this, uh, motion, then I'm all in favor of pointing Mr. Bruss for a non-voting position ending June 30th and 2027 say aye. Aye. That was five zero. I just want to make sure that we also said Mr. Murdoch. Dr. Murdoch is also non-voting. We said that very good. Yeah. Okay. No, we'll fix it. All right. See you on. Do non-voting members still get sworn in, but they just can't take the vote? Do the associate members go to the clerk's office? Ms. Kelsey. Could you answer that question for us, please? We need your help there. I'm sorry. Could you repeat the question again? If you're a non-voting associate member of a board or committee, do you, are you still subject to the same requirements where you get the letter and you go in to get sworn in and you take conflict of interest? Yep. Okay. Yep. It's the same process. So, for all four of you, congratulations. Just wait. You should receive a letter shortly from the town manager's office with certain information. That is your official letter that you would take here to the town clerk's office and they will officially swear you in. They'll also give you some information regarding conflict of interest law training, which we're all required to complete every two years, and then you'll be at bona fide numbers. Thank you for your service. I also want to say this because she did include our information. Congratulations to Miss Liberty on her citizenship. Yeah. Congratulations. Very, very honored to have you join us. Thank you. Thank you, everyone. Thank you. Thank you. Good night, Mr. Press. Thank you. Thank you. So, the next item we have is number nine. Somebody's checking to make sure I don't skip any of my numbers here. This is just to reappoint folks. Based on the question we had last meeting, I also had Abby include in the packet a list of the open vacancies for the things. It's a little bit funny because maybe the ones we've ordered in last week may not have all been updated, but it gives you a sense of how many positions we still have to fill. And I thought that was part of the question from last week. So, I do want to say on this one on the Energy and Climate Committee, their church says that they may have associate members who have special expertise and they're assigned for a special project. So, Mr. Dale is going to be an associate member who's going to provide support for the heat pump and household clean energy captions. And the request is to have him appointed through December of 27. I spoke with Ellen this morning to get that clarified so we could make the appointment. Happy to move that this board approve. Following three people, Carol Gleick, Council on Aging Board, termending June 30th, 2029. Paul Dale, associate member of the Energy and Climate Committee for termending June 30th, 2029. It's going to be December 20, I just think it's 18 and such. December 31, 27, I think it is. Okay. Yeah. December 31, 2027. And finally, Joel Rosenhaus to the Senior Tax Relief Committee for termending June 30th, 2029. Second. Okay. Any further discussion? Okay. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye.
Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. equity inclusion right see that just went from tom he picked up personnel board and board of health and on bill um i highlighted this k-12 facilities planning because he had said it was sort of ending but i left the band just to see if you still needed it wanted it there and then we added in it's not showing uh it should be showing here it's not um eight handles out pip should be there and then finally it should be historic district park that we talked about the other day missing the cba too missing cba who has cba me okay so what other errors do i have bonus at the moment cba because um cba okay i think under jcc regionalization that's really in the uh town manager's portfolio at this moment yeah you want to leave it there or not oh i think uh you know the board is active in that and so as a question just kind of execution that michael is handling so i don't know that that needs to be listed any longer want to take that one off yeah so i'm just trying to make sure and then on yours over here tom i also had put litigation here besides a special counsel because you tend to be our litigation yeah so that's highlighted so those were the changes that i made into them a special counsel just is a smoo you and uh seo
and um all right uh mr whitney do you have any interest in possibly switching one library trustees to me and personal work to you uh if you would like to do that that's fine i i am comfortable with with as it stands i am comfortable with it as it stands but if you would like to uh no i'm good i'm good no i can move anything and i'd like to propose that on the um cpc committee that the dual liaison between the chair and um mr whitney given his background and those i'm sorry i'm sorry not cpc the um the um cips which is the capital improvement planning committee so cipc that that be a dual liaison given mr whitney's uh um background and the uh stage of this committee is in right now i think you know what two members were working on that term if you agree i would welcome that opportunity so i just want to say one thing on all of this is um that when you look at these we usually try to have an even number right and um actually under mine i highlighted surface water quality this was my last edit that i was going to mention that we have had conversations and i've had them with them that we as a board at some point need to talk about this possibly does this really belong under us so does it belong maybe under conservation commission i think they feel the same they go to them to get permits and and and that kind of stuff so i've highlighted that you know i've made that so it won't stay highlighted but we haven't made a decision and we need to do that so that's one thing by the way you say and i have one two i'll have four that's it did you clarify your point madam chair you're saying that that you're thinking is that the board shouldn't have a liaison position with surface water no i'll keep it but i'm thinking that sometime during the year we'll probably do and we may we may have promises we may decide that it makes no sense over there okay just you know we've had this conversation that we might make some edits on some of the words and what have you so i just wanted to point that out so what's going to happen is we're you know one two three four five six seven i think chris has seven or eight you doug has seven i think you have a bill has eight and i have one two three i will have four so next year we'll have to rearrange all these again because you really want to have an even worth i will say this generally speak i'm sorry it's a form of a sec but it'll be good so i think that we normally um normally the chair doesn't have as many but they should have a a few of them but this and it's it'll be a problem all right so are we good with this so i'm going to add in the cba right i'm going to fix the spelling here and take the jcc off do you want to leave the k-12 facilities planning because i think you felt that was kind of finished done yeah i i have not heard further uh suspect the school committee is sort of with the superintendent working on this uh there's been no communication to the done all right yeah we're done okay so you're giving us off there in the capitol so then do you think we do we want to see this again and vote the next time or do we want to just i don't think we need to vote about this request that it be it be revised and put it on the inspector yeah enough to put it on the lawn no we voted these i think
yeah happy to vote then the uh as as amended this evening the 2027 select four liaison assignments second okay any further discussion all right i gotta find my space all those in favor say aye all right great i think that brings us up if i didn't miss any other topics never let them just tell me who's important so mr mccall on the floor is yours yeah we're now being 12.
so i'm just going the order that's on there just a little bit of a recap just so you're aware um as you know this evening you had a bunch of folks that wanted to serve the town in various capacities and last thursday night mr levine was present when uh abigail warren my executive assistant helped put together and host a volunteer appreciation recognition event uh they they played volunteer bingo and there were some refreshments and everybody got to meet and greet and we we were able to thank folks but there was about 25 people i would say um and it was i think nice that we take the time to recognize the people that come out because mr levine and i both said you know the town doesn't function without volunteers and they're getting harder and harder to come by especially qualified individuals so i thank abby for working on that i know kelsey uh had initially looked into that and asked abby to help out so uh i thank my staff for doing that um i attended a couple of board meetings as you know as part of my role as town manager um i'm working with the west suburban health group we're looking we did an rfp for our benefits manager we have companies that interface with our health insurance companies that help us with our claims management etc and so we're going through the process just like this board goes through his due diligence um we spent the day last week interviewing candidly to reviewing proposals um similarly i had a meeting with our regional housing surface services officer all the area town managers and planners went to that meeting mr hummel was there as well they will be coming in to see us i think on june 29th at our meeting i think july 20th to uh and an upcoming meeting they will be coming to talk about uh the ima that we have with them and the other communities they help us maintain our subsidized housing inventory and deal with other housing related issues so there's a couple of quick uh housekeeping items this friday the town will be closed uh town hall will be closed in observance of june 10th that is friday june 19th and because it's a half day here for a lot of our collective bargaining agreements and things we will have to shut the town hall the day before at 12 30 because people get an eight hour holiday so it's going to carry over so in observance of june 19th june teen otherwise known as june teens will be closing on thursday at 12 30 not opening again until 8 a.m on monday again this summer we will be doing town office summer hours with the town building and public works that'll begin the week of june 22nd next monday um the first monday will be excuse me the first friday off will be june 26th and we will resume the five-day schedule on august 31st right before everybody goes back to school the departments that will maintain regularly scheduled work hours will be the council on aging recreation public safety and the library our offices here from june 22nd through august 28th will be eight to seven here on mondays and then tuesday wednesday and thursday will be eight to 5 30. also we're trying to squeeze in town manager office hours this month before our next meeting in our next meeting on the 29th is at 6 p.m so we're going to start town manager or office hours here at 4 p.m on the 28th and that's all the items on my list but sure thank you i do want to just look by that i have put um rhso on the 20th of july okay that's fine okay so um what's the concerns who would like to start with mr levine why don't you start i have a concern that i unfortunately need to outline and that is uh regarding public comment uh made by miss carter uh two meetings ago on the 1st of june um she read into the record um and i quote that i had spoken at the second night of annual town meeting and made a attack on her character personally and said that quote i brought the articles out of some type of vengeance about the bridge project is what i spoke about her so confident that i did not say that i did go back and watch my remarks um for both articles 26 and 28 at the may 5th town meeting and of course i hewed entirely to my remarks in which i focused solely on the articles themselves so it was unfortunate that um she felt the need to make that comment but i find it necessary to correct the record um and she has every right to make that comment but i just want to make sure in the future things are factual
i think what's next look nothing for me nothing for you okay you wonder i thought it was a big list
what mine was to serve the same language as the face
well mine's not i got two minutes right first of all i want to say that um um i was equally upset about the comment that was made last time and had made some thoughts to make a comment today is that in this part of the process this is a democratic process town meeting is where we all get to prepare and discuss respectfully the business that's before the town for the coming year and every single article has a pro mic and a con mic and every single article has a proponent and is allowed to have someone who is an opponent to the article and the moderator that's why we have the moderator she keeps us all at the right spots and i don't believe there's anything in the code that requires anyone to advise anyone else if they are taking a pro position a con position or an opposition position and um i just would like to also have that on the record so i think that makes sense and i'm disappointed and sorry that that happened to you because you worked i know firsthand how hard i don't know how many hours you put in this i was right there with you so um okay i did want to follow up real quick on a couple little things one is that we are still going to be meeting in person right through the uh the seventh when we have the goal setting but then on the 20th and the two meetings in august we will be fully remote just so everybody knows that and if we have to have any i shouldn't say this but if we have to have any one-offs real quick on like a morning or something for an hour that'll be remote as well um i do want to say though this is we have a concern that we're trying to resolve or initially like a smooth out is this maybe having the ability to have electronic signatures the dot you sign is a subscription model and unless it's more heavily utilized than the one or two times that we would use it in the course of the year is probably not economically sensible but we are looking into something else this system you're not supposed to happen on this but go ahead just so you know i spoke to mr lombardi who's our it director and he said we have a subscription to adobe sign which is very similar yeah okay and he said i asked him if he would train my office staff so that they could work on getting documents from here he said he would schedule that so that's that um jaylen has actually watched the tape and said oh do you want a banner she's so efficient and she's looking into some prices for the banner that we talked about last week i do want to run through a couple items that we're going to be talking about some of the other meetings these are really really fun i'm going to be knowing a couple things around um but mr gould is coming in to speak to us he has some more information about the 195 uh remediation projects so we're rearranging the schedule to you know get him in on the next meeting and there will be a public meeting it's going to be on the thursday i send those dates to you bill i don't know if you've worked it out when it is but it's july 30th july 30th yes it is so maybe we could publish that or yeah he just said i shared it with you leave this out okay um and then also um at long last we are actually going to renew um some rfps i guess whatever from some legal terms to to see if we want to what we would like to do because that is our responsibility so that is next time as well i wanted to just mention there's a bunch of other stuff but those were a couple of things i think we're pulling around you know tom well that's huge thank you that's enormous yes thank you happy to move on for german for this meeting at uh 9 21 second thank you second second thank you okay all those about i said all right thank you thank you very much see you too
Approximately 8 p.m., we intend to return to open session. Approximately 8 p.m., we will have a joint meeting with the Board of Assessors to interview, discuss, and possibly vote to appoint a candidate to fill a vacancy on the Board of Assessors. Approximately 8 p.m., we will have a hearing with a license to discuss change of ownership at the Villa. It will be followed by appointments to committees, discuss reappointments. Approximately 8 p.m., we will have an organization with the Board to finalize our 47 liaison laws, discuss appointing a board clerk, followed by the Town Manager's report, the Consent Calendar, minutes of May 18th to June 1st. I don't believe there are any meetings for June 8th. I will review correspondence, hear select board members reports of concerns, and hopefully adjourn by 9 p.m. So join me in the meeting room this evening. We have Mr. Whitney, Mr. Reynolds, Mr. Fay, and myself, Carol Martin. I believe we're going to be joined shortly by Mr. Levine. We are also joined by our Town Manager, Mr. Michael McCall. So, everybody, and I believe remotely we are being assisted tonight by our Assistant Town Manager, Ms. Kelsey Powers-Billette. I didn't see you. So, I think that's it. Okay. So, having said all that, we have any announcements from the Board?
I'll ask you a call. Okay. Any public comment in the room? I don't think it will be done. Is there any public comment online? No. Great. Sorry. Please let the records for the minutes show that Mr. Levine have joined us at 602. Thank you. All right. That's going to bring us to our next agenda item, which is to invite Brian Kevner, our finance director, and Paul Barnes, our Home of Finance Committee, to join us for a discussion of the possible next steps on the potential of fiscal year 2020 operating order of this session. There are some slides that accompany this presentation. Are you going to put them up? I don't have a session. Okay. There is some information. Yeah. So, there is... I don't know if it's still done. Yeah. They're in the supplemental packet. Everybody wants to look at the supplemental packet that we're not this morning. So, I think there are about four slides, four or five slides here. And, Brian, would you like to speak to the reason we're having this agenda and discussion and want us to do the slides? So, we've met a couple of times, various groups, school committee, finance committee member, our town management. So, we've had a couple of meetings already about the override. We've met two years in a row during the summertime on budgets, as you well know. We prepared the fiscal 27 budget without an override, but we've been talking about the fact that most likely in fiscal 28 and in the outyards we'll need override. We did make a presentation in November, showed you folks over a 10-year period what those numbers might look like. I did send out some files on Friday. I'm still updating my long-term forecast. We've had at least two things that happened very recently. The state gave us a little bit more money in state aid in fiscal 27, which will roll over into 28. The assessor tells me that most likely we'll be looking at about $600,000 in new growth. I've been carrying for $100,000. So, that will help our overall position. I think what Michael and I and Carl want to talk about tonight is just a few things. The very first file, this form right here, although we're still truing up some of the numbers, we're fairly confident that an override would be needed to about $2.5 million to $3 million to balance a fiscal 28 budget. I gave you another very busy file that I've given you to previously, and I've actually keyed in the various overrides amounts that would be needed if we produced a level service budget, which would result in an override need, and I put in those various amounts. I think what the decision needs to be, and then there's two more schedules in there to just record because I've had to update those. So, in looking at the material, just look at the first two taps. The final two have some edits in it, and I didn't get to finish those in taps. However, I think what we need to decide is the cost of adoption to take, and the override is going to be a big undertaking for the town. It's pretty clear in 28, we'll need an override of $2.5 to $3 million, and I'm just putting in level service spending. The biggest drivers of fiscal 28 are really in that classified area. We're looking at about a 15% increase in health insurance. We're going to have an increase in debt service. With a time, it may be between 6% to 9%. So, in terms of dollars, the unclassified category is really using up a lot of those dollars, year-over-year increase, and not leaving a tremendous amount left of payroll and other expenses. The overtime category is really sucking up a lot of those dollars. So, I think what we have to get to a point is, really, do we prepare a budget, a level service budget that will require overrides for fiscal 28 in the out years, or do we prepare a budget that requires a specific amount of override, the 28, or do we prepare a budget that doesn't need an override? Now, the number, fiscal 28, if we prepare the budget, would be about 4.4%. If we prepare the budget, 4.4%, then we would not need an override. However, that would result in a lot of cuts internally to payroll, because, again, the unclassified category is what's sucking up all the dollars. So, in going into this fiscal year budget for 28, I think it's really prudent for the town to decide what direction to take. Do you want Michael and I to prepare a budget along with the Finance Committee that will require an override, you're looking at 2.5 to 3, or do you want us to produce a budget that produce a million-dollar override, or produce a budget that doesn't produce an override? Last year, in fiscal 27, we had some levers to pull. We don't have those anymore. There's nothing we can do to diminish the expenses. We're factoring in some color increases. Michael has a couple of unions already settled up with the most part. The teachers are not settled, fire is not settled, police are not settled, but I do have those in my model, and I'm fairly confident that they're reasonable estimates. So, in working with Michael and the Finance Committee, I think it will be helpful, at least from the very beginning, which we're doing is, what direction do we want to take in preparing the fiscal 28? Clearly, 28 is in front of us first. Do we want to do an override for just 28, or do we want to do a three-year override, which would be 28, 29, and 30? I think that's really what needs to be said, decided initially before we get into developing budgets. I'm not sure, Michael, if you want to add to that. Yeah, I was going to say, I wanted to just give a little background color here for the committee. There's been a working group together, both going on math, and they've been looking at this high-level forecast of where we are. They looked at, I'm probably told me to take it from here, Michael Myers, if they looked at, if we were to do an operating override, you know, would we want to try to vote by the first year in August, so it would be on the November general election budget, or do we want to do a special election? Sorry. Ballot. Ballot. Sorry. Ballot. Sorry?
Or do we want to wait and do it, you know, like a January special election, or do we want to do a little later? That was not determined. I think in the conversation, I will say this, I was invited to the meeting when they were talking about the three, the timing, if you will, if we were to go forward in the timing, and I think, looking at Doug, I think we were pretty comfortable saying, particularly how we were so uncomfortable last year, not having the ability to communicate with residents what a yay and enable would mean, and being able to provide a lot of information, and we were made aware there's a lot of information on various types of websites, that August might be a little bit too tight, and so that probably is not a viable option, but it is an option. And so, anyway, having said that, before I open to the board for questions, I'm going to ask Doug and Michael if they would have left it too, because they have bent in these meetings. Yes. So, thank you, Madam Chair. As Mr. Keveney had said, you know, for some time now, we've been able to get through the fiscal year without having to ask the taxpayers for additional monies. By being creative, we came to you last year to convert some levy debt to excluded debt. We were able to refinance some bond anticipation notes in previous years. We saved through attrition, and at least on the town side, we're running pretty lean. As I've indicated before, inside a town meeting, all you have to do is go to the NMA's website, nma.org, and take a look at their white paper that they put together in conjunction with Tufts University about the perfect storm and what's happening to communities across the Commonwealth, because of the limitations of Proposition 2.5, and a lot of these unclassified items in the budget that are increasing, pensions, health care, insurance, debt service. These are things we're obligated to take care of. So, we've been lucky until now with proper planning, prudent fiscal management, to get through. And as I said, this would be the first time we would be asking the taxpayers and hope that we've been good stewards of your money. The challenge now for us is the long-term planning for one of these overrides. And I don't want to simplify things, but, you know, we often, all of us like to go on vacation. And when you go on vacation, you really have to start by picking the dates. And once you pick the dates, you can get the hotel, then the flight pattern. And then later on, you can pick the restaurant or what clothes you want to bring. But you have to make some critical decisions up front. And we're at that stage now where we have to make the critical decisions about, are we going to consider going down the override path? And even if you do that, you have to make those two budgets that Mr. Kevin E. alluded to. You have to have the one in anticipation of asking the question and the one if the question doesn't pass. But you also have to start planning because a lot of these dates, there's timelines, as you know, for town election, if we want to have a special election, if you want to get on the state ballot in November. So there's a lot of long-range planning that those decisions have to be made in the next, say, month or two, if you want, or probably this coming 30 days, if you want to get on the November ballot. And then there's all the planning associated. So we're going to wind up doing multiple things in parallel. We're going to have to continually refine our numbers, update them. You also have your policy with regard to Proposition 2.5. Whatever we're doing has to go through the Finance Committee for their opinions. And then we have to consider if, as Mr. Kevin E. said, are we doing a one-year ask, a three-year ask? And do we want to do it in such a timeline that if we went for a three-year and it doesn't pass, do we save time so that we could regroup and ask for a one-year, say, at the April? That's why there was these options. Do you start in November? Do you come back after the first of the year with a special election? And then do you wait till April? So there's a combination of things that we have to consider, but that initial planning, like I said, has to start happening now. And all along, we're going to have to fine-tune the outward-facing messaging as to why we're doing this, what we're asking for, and the dollar amounts. And those could change as we go through the process, as we know, in a normal budget cycle. But now we have other variables such as unions, state aid, and we've had problems with inflation. So we're not unique, as I say, in this problem, but it will be a challenging time between now and next spring as to how we put this together. So it's going to start with this initial discussion about how much, when, and why. And I think we've put together the why, because we've been working on this for a couple of years. It's now how to, what are the next steps? So I think that's key point here, is this is initial discussion. When it first, Doug first called me, it was kind of a couple days before the June 1st meeting, and we decided that we would wait till today to have the initial conversation so that we're allowed. Brian, I don't think, was even in that Friday. So we'd give him a chance to put together this so we could see how the numbers fall out. So I didn't realize that we could potentially ask for a budget where there is no override. So I guess Lexington was in a similar position. So Lexington voters passed this $650 million new high school. But then in lieu of having an override vote, I think the select board made a determination at that point, instead of going back to the well, they were just going to make some cuts. I myself would feel very uncomfortable making that determination on our own without going to the voters. So what I'm hearing, because we didn't discuss this at our previous two meetings, we could potentially ask for a budget with no override vote, but it automatically will mean some cuts. And it just means what degree of cuts. If we make that determination, would all of those cuts have to come from the town side? Or can you say, school committee, you have to make X million dollars of cuts as well? So I think what Mr. Kevney alluded to, we're obligated to take care of most all of those unclassified obligations. So if we were looking at a potential shortfall with a level service budget of $2.5 to $2.7 million, that would wind up being distributed proportionally between us and the schools. That's how I would foresee it. And it would primarily come down on staffing, because you still have to satisfy a lot of these obligations for retirement. Now, your health insurance numbers and a few things would change if you brought down your head count. But there would be some slight changes. There are some towns that just say that we're not going to have an override and we'll let chips fall what they may. But in order to do that, do you have to have the agreement of the select board, the finance committee, and the school committee? Or can the finance committee and select board say, make a determination, we're not going to have an override? So the way the policy works and the way the statute works, the policy here says any board can come and ask the select board. It's the select board that makes the ultimate decision under state law to put the proposition over a two and a half override question on the ballot. Our internal policy says the select board needs to then go to the finance committee to have them do an analysis and make a recommendation. So I guess the first part would be Mr. Kevin and I come and ask you formally and say, hey, we need to do this. And then we give you the options, the one year, three year, the amounts. And then the board has to make a decision. Okay, this is the direction we want to go. Start listening to the finance committee. But so Doug's question, I think, is the next door, which says, that's the override policy. That's an increase. But what if we say we're not, we don't want to have an increase? That's, I believe, it's a select board. So who makes the decision to have a budget that would require, that have no override, and possibly cuts, adjustments? So if the select board says we're not going to put the question on the ballot, then Mr. Kevin and I have to come back and put together a budget based on our, you know, what our existing levy capacity is, and then put together a plan of how we would get there. But it's not possibly cuts, though. If we, what I'm hearing is, if we don't make a determination to have an override, we're just talking about cuts, right? Because we can't balance the budget. Right. And it sounds like it's going to fall somewhere between two and a half and a three million dollar shortfall. And so that is the number of cuts we would need to make if we have no override, right? Yes, at the moment, because this number is a real high-level forecast, but yes. But I mean, it's not going to come down to the hearing this time, it sounds like, right? You're still hopeful. There's a couple numbers here. I think that Brian is still going to shore up, so it could balance a little, but... But not down to zero. So that, but that was your question. That was my threshold question, because we didn't start talking about that, but what I did want to mention to the board is, we did talk about timing for an override vote, and it sounded like there were three general options. The first being the rushed option, which would mean we had to make a determination here in July to submit to the Secretary of the Commonwealth by August in order to get on the November ballot. It's unfortunate that it's such an abbreviated timing, because at the November election, you have a built-in turnout. And I looked at the turnout for the last midterms four years ago, and it's like hovering in 75% to 80%, so you don't have to turn the vote out. It's already turned out. But it sounds like that's just not realistic, because we would have to rush to such a degree. So then the third option was a late option, which was in the spring of 2027. The school committee, the select board, I mean, the superintendent was strenuously against that, because it doesn't give the teachers any kinds of heads up. They wouldn't know if an override were going to pass or not until sometime in the spring when they already would have applied for another job if it were to fail, which leaves this middle option, which was sometime between January and March of 2027, which we just call the winter option. So to me, walking away from these meetings, it really sounded like the only realistic option. I thought that was what we were going to spend some time talking about today, because I just assumed that an override was going forward no matter what. Yeah, I think the committee has kind of been, I think, my goal tonight was to get the information before the board and then let them ask questions and get us started if they're left to speed. So, Carl, if you don't mind, I'm going to come back to you and open up questions from the board regarding the information that Brian has presented. So, I'm going to start with you. I have several areas to cover. I'd like to start with Carl Barnes. Carl, thanks for coming tonight. Can you give us your thoughts at this point and what you've heard and where you think the Fundingist Committee would like to go from a process perspective?
We haven't met since those meetings that Carl was describing. But I've talked to members individually, and honestly, I think the committee would say you have to ask that the discussion is premature, that we're talking about timing of a phone override before you decide whether you need one. And so, that has a, you know, you get the train on that track, and it's really hard to stop it. Now, I'm not suggesting that we want to stop it, but I think it would be, the committee would like to know whether there will be an override, whether it's a one-year override with a three-year override, and most important, what happens if we don't get it passed? So, I mean, you know, as McCall said a moment ago, that he would need to, or they would need to prepare a budget in eventuality that it doesn't, that the override doesn't pass. That's actually quite important, I think, not only to sell it to the town, but to sell it to the finance committee, because I think there's some concern there. So, I would just ask, going forward, since the Town Manager Act was passed, responsibility has kind of shifted on the town budget, and good communication is critical, given the revised role, town manager, and finance committee. So, I'm just asking the Town Manager, the finance director, and the finance committee, make sure you communicate well, and work together, and keep each other updated, so that this is a difficult process, enough as it is, right? Good communication, good shared information would be great. My next topic is federal cuts. Mr. Town Manager. I didn't get the first one. Federal cuts. Federal cuts. Thank you. Could you tell us to what extent federal cuts impact the budget situation of the different? If I had to give you an answer, I would say we have not seen any direct impact, really. I mean, we had delays getting the money for Snapebrook Dam, but what I would say is we're starting to see trickle down. Some of the grants that we would normally get are being postponed, or the amounts are smaller, and I think that's because the less is going to the states, and then in turn the states have meals to give to the town. We do apply for some FEMA grants and some others, and generally what we're starting to see is some of the monies are getting delayed or the amounts are smaller, and for instance, we apply for a Department of Mental Health grant to get some monies to offset what we're doing with our community advocate that's working with the police department and that grant they're holding off, and so this is the type of action we're seeing, so it's not like a direct, you're not getting money, we're just seeing delays. Thanks. Mr. Kevin, the next question, I really appreciate the information put together. The chart's very helpful. Are you basically stating on page five of this supplemental packet here, are you anticipating, if you look at the override numbers in red, that each year the town should expect to have sit to read to me, an override of that amount each year? Yes. Where are you looking, Tom? Okay, so... Line 29. Levy table. A better view would be this table, which does the same thing. This is the... Do you believe page three? We have a question of three? And then... Page four of six. Page four of the... Yeah. Where's this budget summary? Line 29. Line 29, exactly. So that's, that's excluded. Very similar to what we talked about in November. Right. The 10-year financial forecast that we produced, we gave the presentation twice last fall when we were talking about the letters that we were trying to pull. This, a similar table was presented at that time. And... So, do you get any impression, Brian, that the legislature is appreciating the numbers that we're experiencing, and we're a wealth of talent, okay? But this is, as the time manager just explained, an issue throughout communities throughout the state. Is there any interest in increasing state aid to keep in line with inflation? I mean, if you go back 20 years and you apply inflation to the percentage of state aid that towns are getting now, it's much less, right? So, is there any, any conversation? I don't think so. There's a lot of pushback in the fourth quarter of this year from different state legislatures that towns didn't get enough money, so we did get more money with unrestricted aid. I don't see the town getting much more than a 2.5% increase over a year in the other years, around, you know, $300,000 to $400,000. I don't see that number going up dramatically higher to offset some of these numbers. Even if we got a 5% increase in state aid, we would still be relatively in the same predicament with the budgets. So, one representative who I don't see here tonight, but maybe we can in a future meeting, is representative from the schools, you know, at least 50%, if not 70% of the town budget is the schools, right? It's about, I did the split, it's about $65,000, $35,000. And this information, I think, is, and not that they're on the way of it, I'm sure the superintendent is, and that means a great job as a liaison to the school community to keep good communication. But I think having a future conversation like this would be important so that if many people fall in decision-making on their end are fully aware. Now, these numbers are pretty solid, and they don't even reflect our discussion preliminary on new school construction. Am I right? Well, that would be excluded debt. So, if we did something significant on a school, we would vote that as excluded debt, and it would not incur these numbers here.
So, let me just jump in. So, these numbers also have in there our five-year capital budget. So, everything in the five-year capital budget that's to be issued by debt service, I've already gone to the bank and got the debt service for each one of those for the next five years. That is all mapped in here. The problem after you get past the fifth year is we don't have a capital plan beyond the fifth year. For example, if we had a 10-year plan, I would have 10 years' work on that service maintain. I do have five, and I've sort of flat-lined it in the out years, but I do have a lot of the capital budget mapped into this one. But if we did a significant school project, it would be excluded debt. And my last question is to you, Mr. Town Manager, are you seeing communities that are considering votes on overrides in November?
So, I haven't looked that up, but while we were here, I just quickly went to the Municipal Data Bank and just looked at the number of override questions that were put on ballots in the last two fiscal years, and there were 351 separate questions. Now, that doesn't mean 351 cities and towns. For instance, I'm looking at Chilamark, and they had a question on each year for school general operating in those fiscal years. So, several towns had several questions.
Awesome.
It says 111 Massachusetts municipalities held Prop 2.5 general operating override votes in the last two fiscal years. And that may dovetail because many of these communities had multiple questions on those two years. So, there was a total of 351 questions. I didn't sort by municipality yet. I'm just curious whether any, to your knowledge, and your discussions with other town administrators and town managers, whether there's a lot of discussion about having a November ballot. We chatted about it. I think most are going more with the, as we called it, options two and three in the spring or, you know, at their annual town election. There have been, I've been trying to research. You can take this data and you can play with it. I've been looking at the communities that have won in recent years and how they've done their information campaigns and when they ask their questions. So, I'm trying to gather, since we started this work, we can get that type of information as well. Arlington seems to be one of the examples that a lot of people are looking at. And I know some of the folks over there and I've been starting to review how they've approached it. And if we were to go down the road of doing an informational campaign, I'd probably look at theirs and a couple other towns that were successful. That's all I have. Thank you. Yes, sir. Awesome. Okay. Phil, over on Chris. Phil's ultimate list. Sure. Brian, I have a question about the debt. I know that's part of the, you know, what's really driving this. And you alluded to exempt versus non-exempt debt. Should we be thinking, looking closer at exempt debt as a strategy going forward versus carrying debt service for non-exempt capital projects? Well, the town has not always been consistent with when the issue excluded debt. We've done it for a million dollars and we've not done it for two million dollars. Michael, look, the policy we just did, Carol, that excluded that number. Wasn't it two million? I think it's two and a half percent. Conducted by about 2.5 million. So, in the capital, we have this building here. We have about five to seven million dollars of potential for this building. That's an excluded debt. I'm drawing a blank on some of the other ones that we have in there. We have, I'm being told that the school may have a $2 million study coming up for one of the schools that we have in there as a levy. That could be for excluded debt. My own personal opinion, anytime you have a project that's a million dollars or more, I think a compensation of excluded debt probably leads to happen. I think if you have a hard number of, in a policy of three, you've got to be somewhat flexible to make your budget. We've done that in the past. But I think every time we've tried to issue a large project, we've tried to do it by, we have a library of 2.9. Louise and I recommended excluded debt, but that did not move forward to a vote. So typically what we tried to do in the capital budget is large projects we do put forward as excluded debt. And does this forecast presume that to be the case? Yes. So an interesting thing about this debt and the levy debt, the exempt debt and the levy debt is part of the policy that we've tried to implement over the years we've not quite achieved is to keep debt service as a constant. But what has happened is when the debt service drops, those funds actually end up supporting the operating budget. So then what happens is if we move debt over to the exempt debt, we're going to end up over there all the time. It'll be very challenging to put it back in the operating budget because there'll be no line item for it because we'll have brought that down so low. So, you know, there is in our new financial policies that we've formalized financial policies that was the recommendation from the state was that we do level service, level fund, excuse me, level fund the debt service in the operating budget. So even as it drops, you continue to, so there should be $600,000, but we only need $550,000. The other $50,000 goes to like, for example, the capital stabilization fund. So that helps to fund capital in future years. But what's been happening is literally as the, for example, the school, high school, as we pay now, and we drop $300,000, $400,000, $500,000, that just would go towards operating budget expenses.
I don't know if that is. Well, I still think that we should think about excluded debt given that it's an uncontrolled expense in the unclassified. So what's your sense, Brian, if we don't go forward with a $1.7 million override in the current, in the coming fiscal year, that's, you know, less than 2%, so that's the total budget. So what's the incidence of those cuts? I assume that there are certain things that we're statutorily required to do, such as special education. So what areas, is the pain spread evenly across all line items, or are there certain areas that are more effective than others? Well, you know, for payroll, for example, if you made reductions in payroll, it would have an effect on the Medicare tax. I mean, unclassified, because some people would be paying that payroll if that individual was on health insurance, that would drop. So when you reduce payroll, it does have an effect on other areas. You know, the first legal budget we need to pay is the debt service. I don't know, I believe next one probably will be retirement since that semester under law. I think those are the first two. Everything else is not required by law. You have discretion on all, anything after that. I think the biggest impact in making a $2 million, $2.5 million, you would have really have to take a look at the payroll spending. On the school side, you're in a $55 million budget, and, you know, 80% of that is payroll. I mean, the school is all payroll. In fact, most of our budget is payroll. If you really take a look at it, you know, the town budget, the government budget is really payroll-driven. Yeah, we do have our expenses, but it's really different by payroll because it's a service industry. And taking a look at that, to answer your question, you probably need to look at payroll as the biggest impact in doing it. You would have to do that anyways if you went with an A and B, if your override failed, just like what Winchester did. But Winchester, you know, because I used to be there, had a series of successful overrides. And then it didn't. And then they had to, they weren't ready for that. And they had to go back in and cut their budgets. They had to increase the use of free cash. And I even called a controller up there. And I said, how can you guys still be using free cash for AAA Moody's? Well, we replenished it. Yeah. Yes, but you're not supposed to be using free cash. In the case of Lexington that Doug mentioned, they actually did use free cash for the first time. And there was a big debate on the floor. They were AAA Moody's, and we should not be using free cash. So if this was just a bridge of one year, you could make the argument, you know, if Wayland one time used free cash. But as you can see in looking at this, there's no light at the end of the tunnel, except for increasing the levy capacity, economic growth, bringing new growth into the town. That's the biggest impact the town can have on addressing the override would be economic development. It gives you a hamstring by proctor now. I don't believe that's going to change. You know, we've had good growth in local receipts, but state aid, even if we get 5%, it's not going to get us out of the woods. So which departments, though, assuming that you do a reduction in the head, would you guess that's distributed evenly across the various departments, or would you say, you know, public safety, this may be less flexibility, you know, the must-haves versus the would-like to-haves? I'd like to chime in a little bit. Right now, because of the snow and ice deficit, we haven't been filling positions that are open until July 1, and we, most of the departments in this, at least for the town operations, are probably down at least one FT right now. The position is vacant. Some we haven't posted. Some we're trying to post. So we're hanging in there trying to make level service. If we don't fill some of those come July 1, and we have to make further cuts, it's really going to impact service here. I think you'd have to go in a department-by-department basis. There's certain departments, I think you hit a critical level where you couldn't reduce too many more people, especially in our finance departments. You have to maintain some level of inspectional services. You're going to have to keep inspectors, or at least one inspector. You'd have to go through and do that analysis, I think, department-by-department. The school department would have to look upon itself and see how they were going to do that. You know, they'd have to make policy decisions whether they're going to increase classroom size or they're going to consolidate to, you know, one facility. I know over the years in my hometown, you know, they would try and close certain things and consolidate, and that may be one way to do it. One thing, if we do have a reduction in workforce, you do have some savings in the unclassified, but you also have to remember that will drive up our unemployment obligations. And there's usually a rule, I think, is you have to let go of three people to pay for two. Is that your recollection? It's been a while, but I don't have to get back and look at it. But he's right. We would have to increase the unemployment we carry, 40,000. They may have to go to 150,000, 200,000, 300,000. We don't really know. That's speculation. Don't we have to have that kind of analysis if we decide to go for a one- or a three-year override to talk about, you know, what's the downside if this doesn't pass? So do we have that information, or would we generate that information? Well, we're working on that. Okay. We're working on fine-tuning the numbers, coming up with a low-service budget, coming up with the override number. Right. If it failed, if that number failed, then we would need to have a budget prepared, compensate for that. Right. The amount of money we're talking about, if it was a three-year, is it a sum of 1.7, 2.7, and 2.3? About 9 million. Excuse me? 9 million. Why is it not 6.7? Why isn't it 1.7 plus 2.3, or 2.7 and 2.3? Those are fiscal units, Ben. So we're going to go into fiscal 27, which is voted. So this is for the following year, which is FY28, 29, and 30, which is why those are bold red. 2.7, 2.2, 3.8. You need a vote. Okay. And then it's the number of the number. 7.5 to 9 million, as we're going to tell you the numbers.
Yeah. Yeah. So this is the first I've seen of it, so. Right. Well, I know. I'm going to say process. Let me do it. Do you have any more questions, Mr. Whitney, at this moment? Mr. Rettles. Thank you. I do refer to the MMA report, which I'm only halfway through. Oh, I think I should be bragging. I got halfway. But it did give me a scare that we may need to look at this differently than we have in past years. For those who haven't had a chance to look at it yet, the report says, as its major conclusion, that the normal pattern of overrides is towns get whipped into a frenzy, and they think success is getting the override to pass, and then themselves on the back, and they get some money, and they carry on. The fundamental real estate values that underscore why one would do an override so one could increase one's levy and get more money are now in question, according to the MMA report, which we could question or we could adhere to. But the point is, it begs the question, if we zoom out a notch and ask what is really going on in all of society, all the way to California, this is a perfect storm out there too. It seems like something has to change at a bigger level. And so broadly, what I'm asking is, is there any point in going to the state and asking for more money, that question came up a moment ago, or for a different way of borrowing money or a different way of obtaining it in the first place? What the state must love is when towns go to the state one by one individually, and then they can say, oh yes, something's in committee, thank you for visiting, we'll give you a parking shed. If a whole bunch of towns come together and explain this, be different. So let me back up what I just said. But I believe that this is already happening in South Hadley, if my memory's right, which I knew to a moment ago, this made the front page of the Wall Street Journal. The fundamental of passing an override wasn't going to work there. If it failed, it failed. And if it succeeded, it were failed, is now what they seem to be saying.
It seems to me we need to, even if it's just for thoroughness so we can claim we're as well managed as I think we are as we go about an override, we need to go to the state and make a different kind of case than we've ever made. And I doubt we want to go along. So my question is, is there a way to team up and syndicate and do this intelligently? So the MMA, the Massachusetts Municipal Association, which most cities and towns belong to, are effectively the lobbying arm of all the municipalities. And Adam Chapdelaine is the executive director and routinely they write position papers and put together articles like this and go back to the legislature and advocate on behalf of the 351 municipalities for additional state aid, advocating that the legislature re-examine proposition two and a half. I know that's not the greatest answer because that just, it's easy, I would think it's easy for the legislature to tweak proposition two and a half and then it falls back on a board like this to make a decision to, you know, increase tax rates. I should interject. I spoke with him on Friday and he would use much stronger and more colorful language than I did. Yeah. He thinks the system may be broken, which is why I'm. And I'm at the risk of offending some of our legislators. I've never understood why the cities and towns always have to keep going back to the legislature to ask for additional liquor licenses when we're the local liquor licensing authority. But a lot of times the system that we have here is you have to go up and ask them, you know, permission to do something that in most other states you can do on your own. So I think, you know, the state has its own budgetary problems. And if you go way back to around 2009, when probably around, that might've been the, as they refer to it, the great recession, then Governor Romney had to make what we call the emergency nine C cuts. And we started cutting into local aid. And if I think Brian may have a chart, if you go back and look at the trajectory of how we were getting state aid, that got reset and we've never really got back to that point. So we, we've been on our own for well over a decade as, when I say we, collectively those cities and towns. Which would be Mr. Vey's point. Right. We never really got back. If you include inflation on top of what you just said, we aren't even getting back in the game here. So we've got a pretty strong case to make. And there, there've been articles asking that they just restore us to the, those, those levels way back then. And if they were to plot that out and give us that money, we would be in a lot better position to ride out a lot of these, these bumps in the road. And I used to term bumps slightly. Well, both because it would help optically if we try to sell something to voters who want to see the town as well run. And also, actually, it seems to me, we ought to push, you ought to push there. Mm-hmm. Well, that's perfectly. And then my other question was just to push what Mr. Whitney was saying. I know we got bogged down in there and whether it's six or seven and a half or nine, but whatever the number is, are you, when do you think you'll have a coaching package for us, Brian? It'll be short, really, by the end of, you know, mid-August, late August, as we did the last two years. If Michael gets some of the bargaining contracts done, then we can work with real numbers instead of assumptions, I would say there's not a lot that's going to change between today and the end of August, except if we settle some of the contracts. So I think, like you said, in the middle of August, late August, it's been in the last two years, we'll have better numbers.
Thank you. I'm going to be quick because we're going to have the time here at the moment, but I want to give Carla a last chance if I am. I agree with my colleagues, Mr. Whitney and Mr. Royals have said, I would like to see some analysis here. You know, we, the select board, us five, have to explain to our 13,000 fellow residents why we're having an operating override, and I think I would feel comfortable knowing that we had done some analysis and made sure we looked at a lot of different things, some economies of scale, for example. I know we've talked a thousand times about outsourcing, we've consolidated in the payrolls so we don't have two payroll departments. I know there are a number of other, these things have been mentioned. I know the last time there was an override suggested, Steve Correa was on the committee, so he was always telling me this, a group that got together and made suggestions of where we might walk to find some funds. Maybe it only buys us one year, maybe it buys us two years, maybe it buys us nothing. But I think we need to do, I should rephrase it, I think we need to feel comfortable that we've done that due diligence before we have to pull the levy, yay or nay, and then operating over the ride. And I think that's a really important thing to do. Brian, I'm going to need some help there. Does this forecast include the additional levy that we're going to pick up in 28 from the reclassification of the River Road data? Yes, it already has it. It's already on the net, okay, that's it. But I really think that we should think about maybe suggestions and folks, you know, maybe things to look at, but where we might possibly have some savings. Do you think we need to be doing that simultaneously and also moving down the open path? Absolutely. We can't be waiting until whatever. I don't see, Madam Chair, we've been doing that all along. So when I first arrived here, they were forecasting an override in my first budget. And we've been looking for these ways to find monies. And we've been talking about the long-term financial forecast. And last year, I think we found some extraordinary ways to save money, because I really thought last year would have been the year that we may have been having this dialogue. Now, you've done a terrific job. Excuse me. You've done a terrific job. As I've said, you've pulled a ramp out of half for the last two years. But I do think that there might be some other ideas floating around that we might want to look at that might actually help us. But I also want to talk, too, about the big, when you talk about talking to the folks at the state, one of the biggest costs that we are facing, and you see this as a 10-year run. Over the next 10 years, we have to come up with $58 million to support the Middlesex retirement because they didn't achieve their revenue goals. Is that the right way to word it, Brian? Well, we've been assessed $58 million over the next 10 years. I think this warrants a conversation with legislators. 10 years, $58 million? Their returns on investment in Middlesex have performed as well as other retirements. That's right. And so now we need our projections. They need an infusion of funds, and our share of the cost, I think, is $58 million, and that's a big contributor here. So I do want to think we ought to put that on our discussion as well. To your point, the system's broken. The system's broken. How could you give us a bill for 10 years? I mean, we're paying over them in a minute. In a period where the market has done very well. But if you're not invested in them, yes, thank you. You were good. You were good. I find your mentions. I want to wrap this up, if I may, for tonight. I put down October, October, August. I put down something to revisit our August meeting, Brian. Carl, did you want to say anything before I thank everyone for coming? Well, only to actually, I think there are eight people at the table who may know the town code better than I do. But the finance committee recommends the budget to the town. We do not write it. Right. And I'm really glad for that distinction. I would, you know, follow up on what Mr. Payne said. We really look forward to working with these gentlemen sooner rather than later and do whatever help we can, but also, honestly, to get us up to speed so that we can think about it and be ready to recommend it, whatever the final version is. Great. Thank you. Thank you for coming, by the way. I appreciate it. Thanks for having me. I'm going to ask another question. Mike, baby. Always ask. Look, if I'm running late, I'm going to look right over here tonight. I'm getting a vibe from you. What's your gut this year, this time around? 428.
When you say gut, what do you mean? Is this a different cycle? Are things different? Or are people who are lobbyists and need to get paid and need to make noise in the media just saying it's different, but it's not? Is this a different override cycle? Is the next three years going to be different from overrides over the last four years? No, I think in the case of Wayland, I think clearly you're looking at 10 years of override just to produce a level service budget. As Michael said, we've been looking at this for a while. I think the $2.5 million number is pretty close to what we would need. Wayland has not had an override vote in 2009. 2009, 2008. There's been a significant period of time. So back to Mr. Whitney's point, if it turns out we only need $7 million, can we find $7 million and avoid an override? I guess that's a version of your question. I'm trying to get a stomach level probability for you about this. Is this a spending problem we have or a revenue problem? I don't think you have a spending problem. Or I think you have more of a revenue problem. More to the, if you take a look at the growth of the levy, but new growth. If we didn't have revenue's edge, we probably would have had an override a couple of years ago. I was dropped. Thank you very much. All right. Thank you very much, everyone. I want to move on to the executive session, if I may. So I move on to the select board and to the executive session. Thank you. Thank you. So I moved up to the select board and to the executive session, so into Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 38, Section 2183, to discuss strategy with respect to litigation listed below. If the chair determines a discussion in open session, we'll have a detrimental effect from the town to the beginning of the session. We have 12 cases. It's in the matter of Pascade Development, in the matter of Windsor Place, Kenneth Todd Nelson versus Town of Whelan Board of Health, Town of Whelan Conservation Commission, and that's all. Number four, Kenneth Todd Nelson versus Town of Whelan Board of Health, five, Dwayne Gallery versus Whelan's own zoning board and appeals, five, Omar Ezee versus Town of Whelan, and Arles, number one, seven, Sam Gibbons versus Town of Whelan, Jennifer Oidaway versus Town of Whelan, Town of Whelan, Bayham Food and Conservation Commission, and Frederick C. Manning's trust to see some Whelan Commerce Condominium Trust for Skilly Smiles, Whelan IAFF, local one since 1978 in the town of Whelan, and finally, in the matter of the planning, Office of Urban Affairs, Nate.
Secondly, in pursuance of Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 38, Section 21A7, to review or approved consent of session meetings since June 1, 2026, and June 8, 2026, that would be attached to a whole seven minutes. Is there a second to the motion to enter into an executive session? Second. Thank you. The chair declared that a call to start these matters may have a detrimental effect on the litigating, negotiating, or bargaining position of the town. The roll call roll. Mr. Whitton? Yes. Mr. Reynolds? Miss Cavie. Miss Cavie. Miss Cavie. Miss Cavie. Miss Cavie. Miss Cavie. Miss Cavie. So that's 5, 0, the chair of the vice of attendance by Michael McCall, the town manager, Elsie Powers, the town manager, Jane Labraddick, I'm the management analyst communications Communications Coordinator, Attorney Debra, K.P. Law, K.P. Law, Andy Leswell, Courtney Nail, Hacet, and Dave Dow, Massachusetts Interlocal Insurance Agency, Massachusetts M-I-I-A. The committee will be joined. A meeting from the executive session. The meeting will be going to open session. There may be an associate from K.P. Law joining as well. Miranda Sessel will be on Zoom, just observing. Okay. Miranda Sessel? Yes, Sessel. I also invite Miranda Sessel as an associate of Fort Worth Law. Now, the committee will rejoin the public meeting from the executive session. The meeting will return to open session approximately one hour and 15 minutes. I see the sign is up there. I think we're good to go. Thank you very much. This Blackboard is returning to open session at 8 a.m. I'm recording. Sorry? I see it. I see it recording. Oh, you didn't? I'm recording now? Yes, you are. Thank you. Okay. So we're now in open session again. And we're supposed to be having a joint meeting with the Board of Assessors. And it looks to me like the Board of Assessors are online. Hi there. Hi, Carol. Good evening. Hi. How are you? Zach? Do you have a quorum? We do have a quorum. We've got Steven and Yiji here as well. Hi. Do you need to call your committee to order? Yes. We had a meeting earlier today. So why don't we at 8.02 or I've got 8.01 p.m. this Monday, June 15th. We'll call a joint session with the Board of Assessors joining the Select Board by roll call vote. Zach Ventress here. Deep Lutgood here.
E.G. Brennan here.
And that's it, right? Three. And you're also joined by Mr. Lillard, right? Yes, Mr. Lillard. All right. Okay. So is the candidate there as well? Mr. I believe Flovis is planning to join you all in person. Okay. He's in person? Oh, my God. Don't turn it off the man I sent away. He's going to join by Zoom, right? So maybe you could reach out to him and tell him that we're ready to rock and move on. He may make it to him. I sent the wrong one. Uh-oh. I thought that was Mr. Bruss that was here. Um, he's at the, he believes he's at the Select Board meeting room. Is there? Who's the Select Board meeting room? Oh, there's a general room. Yes. Yes, hang on. We'll go again. Which, uh, which room are you guys in? Rob's getting in. What room is this called these days? The Wailing Commons. Could we please take the Select Board meeting sign off that room? This is, oh, well, I removed all of it. I'll get that done tomorrow. Thank you. I think that's terrible when that happens. It's the second time we've done this by default. This isn't that. All right. So he should be with you momentarily, right? Yeah. I've just hopped out of his office, I think, to, uh, to do that. So could we, um, on the screen, uh, the stuff on the right, could we get rid of that? Yeah, sure. So we could see everybody. Yeah. That's a little better, don't you? Yeah. That's a lot better. Hello. All right. Would you just join us here? Thank you. Yeah. Oh, we're going to thank you, Mr. Sharpie. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. So before we start, I'm just going to make sure everybody knows everybody. So we're going to have the members of the select board to say who they are. Maybe the members of the assessors could say who they are. And we all know who each other's are. So. Bill Whitney from the select board. Good evening. Chris Reynolds. Yeah. Carol Martin, select board. Tom Fay. Hey, Doug Levine. Okay. And from the assessors we have? Yeah. Zach Ventress. Thank you. Be good, Gord. I don't see you, Steve, but okay. I don't. Yeah. I, I, I lost my picture someplace. I guess I'm incognito. I have no idea how to fix it. Okay. And? And? E.G. Brennan. Thank you. And the candidate here is Mr. Yeah, Julie's chef. We've interviewed you before, I think. Yes. All right. So the purpose of this meeting is just for those who are watching, and by the way, we're on page six of the packet, is that the, the board of assessors had a candidate who was a write-in, I think, for the election. Rob will correct me if I'm wrong here. And then was unable to serve, so withdrew. So the board of assessors has asked the select board to help them fill the vacancy, which will be until the next town election. So whether that's in April or May, whenever we have it, this person, we will be filling the vacancy just until we have the next town election at which time, obviously, hopefully somebody will run for the position. So we have one candidate before us. We will each have a chance to ask a question of the candidate who left and makes an opening statement, after which hopefully we'll have a nomination and then take a vote and go from there. So the floor is yours, sir. Okay. And there is, your information is on page six, I think, of our capacity. So good to meet you or see you again, everyone. So my name is Clovis Schaaf. I'm a resident of Weyland since 2013. I've got two high school boys, nine, or 10th grade, I should say rising 10th, rising 11th. So yeah, last time I interviewed, it was for the Energy and Climate Committee that I've joined for a couple of months now. And so professionally, I'm, well, personally, I'm French and American. So that's where my accent is coming from. My wife is French as well. Can you hear me well? Yes. Okay. And thank you. And professionally, I'm in software engineering. So managing teams in SAS B2D environment. So it's with an engineering background, strong engineering background, and it's heavy data driven, and the work that I'm typically doing. And I had also a past experience with the, I think, an appeal to the board of assessors a couple of years back. So that's when I could see a lot, a bit more, I would say not a lot more how the process is working. We have a score count. We have plenty of parameters that go into account for assessing based on past year's sales. And yeah, I got an opportunity firsthand to see how it was done. And that the key principle is to keep it fair and transparent for past crisis and public information cards. And so I liked the process back then, honestly. So it was a formal visit at my house with a town employee, making sure that everything was legit from the score count and doing minor adjustments. So I got a lower, not as low as I wanted, but it looked fine with the other prices I was giving in comparison. So I was happy with the process and also felt comfortable with it. I will say I didn't know how it was working in a lot of detail. So I attended also back then to one meeting to see how it was run. And so with regular review for the whole inventory of houses to make sure that everyone gets their share, let's say, of house assessment review with accurate information. So what I like is the transparency and the fairness in the process. What I will say from the data, I can see here and there, there might be a bit of noise. So there is complicated. You've got a score count on one side, then you've got plenty of electronic building permits for upgrades. And I could see from my side on the energy and climate, that's not everything is always in sync. So that would be a kind of a pet project on my end, I think, to try and see how the tools are used, what's the process behind, how the people are working to update information and where I could help. Basically, if there are holes in the processes, I think more importantly, how I could prep that. And I know Zach from the committee, and I'm also very happy to have the opportunity to join. I'm going to start with the, thank you. I'm going to start with the board of assessors to see if they have questions. Zach, did you want to start?
I believe, you know, as Clovis was, as you had stated, he was a write-in candidate. There was actually a candidate on the ballot who had successfully, you know, won one of the two positions. Gigi was also a write-in candidate. And so Clovis was third in line. And so I believe, you know, the board, Clovis has introduced himself and, you know, I think has a strong interest in volunteering to ensure that, you know, Weyland is, you know, runs smoothly. So, I have no questions for Clovis. Okay, thank you. To Steve or, oh my God, I can't read the names from here. Do you have any questions for Clovis? I don't have any questions for Clovis. I was the one that originally was encouraging Earl, who had to back out to run. And everything I've seen about Clovis suggests that he would be a good addition to our board. So, I highly support the idea of giving him the appointment. Okay, thank you. Anybody else? Rob or?
E.G., I don't have any questions. Thank you. Thank you. It's so small, but it's way over there, but I read it. Thank you. And, Rob, do you have a question or a comment? Well, I think you're on mute. You're on mute.
Sorry about that. We desperately need another member, and Clovis seems like an ideal candidate. Great. Thank you. Okay. I'm going to go to the select board now. Select board members, do you have... Mr. Levine, do you have a question for Mr. Shaw? Mr. Levine, we very much appreciate you stepping up and serving in multiple capacities. I know you touched on this a little bit through explaining how you participated in the process and watched one of the meetings, but I am curious why the board of assessors versus a number of other boards in town, what really piqued your information? I guess my professional background with tools involving lots of data. So, I'm interested in on a personal level as well to understand more how the tool is working and how it's operated by employees of the town. It's heavy data driven as well. So, there is machine learning behind the scene, which is something of interest for me as well. So, that's a combination of lots of data and machine learning. That interested me in that room, that board, sorry, specifically. Thank you. Mr. Levine. I have a comment and question. First, thanks for serving on the Energy and Climate Committee.
Incidentally, we have another candidate coming for us tonight who will be applying for his third board of committee in town. So, we don't see that too often. So, we appreciate your service to the town. My question is, I see you're a coach in the town soccer program. Do you feel confident that France will go deep? Oh, you're in the town. So, they lost against Igory Coast. So, I think that's why they dropped by two places from first to third in their FIFA ranking. We'll see tomorrow, their first game. I'm gonna support them. So, with my support, hopefully, they'll go beyond the group after Norway. Good luck to the team. Thank you. It's a super great moment for the next month to watch lots of soccer, or I should say. Yes. Lots of fun. Mr. Reynolds. I have no questions. Thank you for your service. I thought your letter was great. And I take this opportunity. I express compassion for the fellow producer about the situation. Thanks for being here. Thank you. Let me add my thanks to those of my fellow board members for your willingness to step forward. What are the data that you envision working with? What is the process? And how would you see yourself fitting in with the assessment of those data? Yeah, I think it's learning more from Rome for it's working basically and pain points right now, if there aren't pain points in the process for the tools and see if I could automate anything with my IT skill. It's kind of an idea that is floating in my head, I think. And also, what I'm wondering is, you know, the data which is applied before 2020 for permitting as an example. That's something that I'd love to have access to, to complete, you know, the matching with property details. I don't know how that's possible at all, but something I'd like to explore as well. Thank you. And I thank you for stepping up as well. This is an important board. It's uh, helps us, like you're saying, make sure that all the houses, everyone's paying their fair share and, and that those who feel maybe they need to have their share adjusted or looked at have an opportunity to come before the board. So they do a lot of work for us in town. So, um, with that, I think we have concluded the questions. So, um, Zach, would you like to make a motion or would you like the select board to do it? Um, I, I can make a motion to, um, approve Clovis as a candidate, uh, to fill out the remainder of the term for the, uh, open Board of Assessors seat. You need to conclude on, at the end of 2027 Annual Time Meeting? That's the, that's the motion. So we're going to, is that acceptable, Zach? Uh, yes. Yeah. If you can add that detail of when that, uh, term would end, that would be great. Right. So we need a second, please. Second. Thank you. So all those in favor, Zach? Aye. Thank you. Steve? Aye. Thank you. Eugene? Yes. Aye. Thank you. Doug? Yes. Tom? Yes. Chris? Yes. Bill? Yes. And Carol? Yes. So it's unanimous. So, um, um, the end of a little spare while you went on to do it. You still have been, go ahead.
Sir, you will receive a letter in the coming days from the town clerk's or town manager's office, at which point that you will want to take that letter, go into the town clerk's counter, and they will officially swear you in and also give you some information about conflict of interest law training that you need to complete. At that point, you do become an official voting member and welcome aboard. Okay. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. And then Doug and Carol, he'll also receive an invitation to take, uh, the assessing 101 offered by the department of local services or division of local services. So, um, and I believe that that concludes our, our portion of this kind of joint agenda. And so I, I think with, um, a roll call vote, uh, EG, Steve and myself and Rob will, uh, we'll exit and not return. And then return. Okay. Okay. Okay. So, so we'll, we'll depart and adjourn the, uh, joint portion of this meeting and the board of select, sorry, the board of assessors will, uh, it'll drop. Okay. Okay. Zach. Thank you. Thank you for joining us. Bye. Bye. Thank you. You're all set as well. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Nice to meet you. We'll see you again. All right. Um, the next item on our list is a little bit confusing. We were scheduled to have a hearing tonight in the villa and I saw the memo in the packet. Um, there was a confusion of the paperwork that they received or the advice they received regarding the paperwork. So in that case, what they have done is they are now withdrawing. The applicants is not going to appear here, but because we've posted this, I have to do the open it and close it for us. Okay. So I'm going to clearing, we're going to have an open for the purpose of considering the application file, but the constituent restaurant group, LLC, DVA, the villa restaurant for the application amendment, the change of ownership interest. Right. The notice that appeared in the Metro West Daily newspaper on Friday, May 29, 2026 read as follows. Notice is hereby given that the Wayland select board will hold a public hearing on Monday, June 15, 2026, beginning at 8 15 PM at the Wayland town building, which is at 41 constituent road in the mass and remotely for the application filed by Alexander Mario on behalf of the constituent restaurant group, LLC, DVA, the restaurant. This public hearing is for change of ownership interest and a change of LLC manager on for an annual all alcoholic liquor license. And that's going to be ABCC number 06669-RS-1340. The hearing can be attended on zoom review remotely and the zoom link will be made available the day of the meeting. And this will be at the Wayland town calendar. So the application, as I said, has rescinded this application for correction for a later date. So there'll be no presentation tonight or deliberation with this application. So now I'm going to move to close the hearing. Can I need a second? Second. Thank you. And then I need votes to close the hearing. So, um, but you know, we're all here, so I don't have to do a roll call. All those in favor? All right. So I'm used to having somebody back here. Hearing is closed 5-0. So there was no decision for the application and no motion is needed in this case. So I do want to add that this process has been restarted and we actually will have this hearing next meeting on the 29th. All right. Happy to do with the consent calendar for June 22nd. I think number eight is appointments to the committees. No, I know, but what kind of roll is that? Well, they're right here. They're all here. Yeah. Let's see if the applicants are available online. There should be four people applying for positions. Um, I see, um, this must be Mr. Murdoch. Mr. Russ said he was going to come in on, um, there we are. There's our student applicant, I think. Mr. Russ is not on yet. We're missing two. No, I, is there any more there? Murdoch, you can go back to your account. Yeah, you can look great. You can look great at Murdoch. I do that. It's not really a nice thing to do. Okay.
Okay, so let's go to consent. We'll wait a minute for everyone to pop up for, um, Happy to move the consent calendar for June 15th, 2022.
All right. All those in favor of the consent, say aye. All right. Mr. Bass is 5-0. All right. Um, how about correspondence? Any comments on correspondence?
I have one thing on correspondence, and that is I received, I think we all did, an email regarding a survey in the state, uh, groups putting together about the pilot program and the use of the state land, and, um, you can participate in the survey, which I strongly suggest everyone do. It's about the pilot program for the state land, and it also, um, there's an opportunity, I think, to participate in a, either an in-person or a Zoom discussion. It was actually in my other, uh, rather than my regular inbox, if you can find it. Okay. That's terrific. Particularly in view of the, the, um, what's going on in Wellesley at the Mass Bay property over that state-owned land, that's development there. I thought this was really timely. All right. I think we've done with Kennedy. I'm sure you have a comment on correspondence? Yes. May. So I want to acknowledge about Larry's email regarding property, you know, his property, relative to a dangerous condition. It's been the case for some time. The matter's in litigation, therefore I can't speak on litigation, but I just wanted to, um, uh, stay in my agreement with Mr. Lowry's email. It's, it's been way too long for that condition to be in its current condition, but the town is making best efforts to address it. We could go back to member nine. These are just, uh, reappointments. Oh, you do that. Do that still? Sure. What page are we on? Oh, I got five minutes. Page 22 or minutes in the packet. Happy to move minutes, um, as amended for Monday, May 18th, 2026. Thank you. All right. Does anybody have any edits for the minutes? Uh, what did you say? May 18th. May 18th. On page six, third paragraph, there's a missing word. Ann Jones added that she could insert the word found that I would suggest the League of Women Voters Forum to be helpful. Yeah. A eight. I believe that I, in the last sentence, suggested having only one meeting in August, I don't know, or two. Wow. But I reckon. Says here, one or two. I'm correcting him. Are you amending them? No, I'm correcting him. Oh, correcting him. Do you have any, um, other edits, sir? I do not. Anybody else? I think on A10, on the, uh, A, under the recap, uh, the recent Ribbon Cutting Tower restaurant ad, I think that it's, it's, ah, Bill, how could you have missed this? The comments, the apostrophe is supposed to be before the S, I think, yeah. Excuse me? There should be no apostrophe here at all. I, I have that noted, actually, but I suffered the slings and arrows of abuse, uh, talking about punctuation. Well, I, I, I made note of it for my own edification. I will, I will. If nobody else has any other edits to, uh, May 18, let's pull, all those in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. Okay, let's go. Abstain. Abstain. Abstain. Okay, back up. It is it. So all those opposed, and then those who abstain? Abstain. So three, zero, two. Correct. Okay. I move the minutes, other minutes for June 1st, 2026. Thank you. As a method? As a method, that's correct. Of course. Anybody have any edits? Mr. Whitney? I already know. Anybody else? Good.
Yeah, um, on A8, I'm, I'm pretty sure you're still this correctly. On the motion, Mr. Whitney moved, seconded by Levine. It's not to appoint, Mr. Turner. We have to confirm it because this is a moderator. LXR1 is going to be a moderator committee. So that should say confirm. If we did it wrong, we have to redo it. Confirm the appointment. Yeah, confirm the appointment. You made sure we did it, right? I remember. I did. Yeah, I thought we did. But if not, I'll go back and fix it. And on A10, could you just verify that's the correct spelling of Jeffrey's last name? I thought there was an E in there. Sure. I thought it was W-E-I-L. Hold on.
And it does say here equity audit. And I know people were saying that at the meeting, but actually it's an equity assessment. So I do want to make that. We can't change it because we said it. But going forward, we need to, I don't know, think about that. It's correct. It's correct. Okay, good.
And this was the other one. I'm sure this is what we voted, but we might have a teeny problem here. We voted on A14 time. We voted the leadership in for a term ending with the close of the 27th annual hotel meeting. So that means that the next week, before we vote anybody else into the leadership, we have no leadership. Although I guess we can stay until someone gets appointed, right? So you should, how do you usually phrase it, the first meeting after the 2027? No, we just voted in as the leadership in there. And when we take the vote, we do the vote because it varies. Should I redo this next week? Maybe. Yeah. If we need to, we should do it. Well, I just, this is basically my question. I'm sure this is what we said, but I'm wondering if I have to, um, so we just say so and so and so and so. We'll serve. Okay. You know, basically it's till further notice, I guess that's all. Okay. All right. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Or the Jones. I'm us. Okay. Let's see. I think we have, are there candidates here now? No. No? 827. You should be here. Um, can you ever put out the, the participants in these? Sure. Okay. Yeah. See, let's do it.
So maybe, um, yeah, sure to text them. Yeah. Well, Mr. Brass, I told him at 825, it was only 825. It's 827. It's 827. Okay. Well, he was some, he was some big fan. Well, maybe not a big person. I don't know if he was. But, um, Mr. Storer is here. Why don't you do here? Right? Mr. Storer? All right. Would you like to join us? Yes. Karen, do you know how were the rest of the applicants? I've lost them. Yeah. Yes. I, because that's me, right? I'm talking to you, yes. Yes. Um, I have to apologize. I thought out of my house without my cell phone. And so, if they're trying to reach me, I do not have my cell phone to report to you. What do you say? I, they are all supposed to be here and I don't know what's happening. Well, mine's here and mine. Two. But we're supposed to have four. Oh, yeah. If you'd like to. Actually, just to see. So, why don't we interview Storer first and then if you ever still come. Mr. Bruss was here earlier. He was here about, I would say like six or six. Yeah. Six? He was. Do you have an email on the phone? No, um, I can look. I can, I, we do. Yeah. You have an email for him and you, uh, and you've been up here. Oh, he doesn't have cell phone. No. I don't have a phone. I don't have a phone. I don't have a phone. I don't have a phone. No. Too shy. Okay. Listen. Yes. I could do it. Yeah. Okay. So, let's go back up to page. Um, it's on the outside. Page four. Page four. And Mr. Storer has a five-four position on the honkrum. How are you? I'm good. Thank you for joining us. going to interview the HRDEI candidates first, but since they haven't come, we were going to interview you. Great. We were talking about your interest in joining the Conservation Commission, so do you want to tell us all about that? Yeah, I live at Nine Brewster. I'm currently on the Board of Health and on the Public Works Board, and I've been working with Linda over the years on different projects, and I've mentioned to her in the past to let me know if there's an opening, and she did. So I'm an excavation contractor, and I work mainly Concord Carlisle, Weston, Lincoln, that area. I just think I could be an asset to her because I read plans well, and I've utilized a lot of the erosion control methods and water treatment systems that get utilized. Thank you. So what we do is really, the board members will ask a question, and then we'll just go from there. Okay. So Mr. Levine, would you like to start? You would not like to start. Mr. Reims? I'm all set. Thank you. You're all set. Hi, I'm Bill Whitney. I don't think we've met. We have your email expressing interest, but not much about your background. Have you been in town for a while? I've been in town for 14 years. Okay.
Previously Carlisle. And I guess the other question is, you know, between your work and family, do you have time to start with three boards? Well, the other boards, one's remote, one is once a month, and we have no kids at home anymore, and I'm self-employed, so I kind of make my own hours. I believe so. Thank you.
Thank you. I have a question for you. How's your experience bound on the other two boards take you, sir? This is my second term on the Board of Health, and I enjoy it, and I was a write-in candidate for the public works. Early on in the game? Yeah, just started. The first meeting is tomorrow night. All right. We had a meeting a month ago. Okay. Well, thanks for your service on those two, and thanks for the candidacy for the content. Thank you, Mr. Storer. One thing I would add to my colleague, Mr. Whitney's question regarding time is, from my experience observing the Conservation Commission, it can be, on occasion, a lot more substantive, some of these hearings, and I think it takes some time to become acclimated with some of the town bylaws and the state laws regarding wetlands, for example, and so I think it's commendable that you want to serve the town in three different capacities. I think, at times, you could expect the Conservation Commission to be a heavier lift in some respects, in terms of preparation for the meetings, and not just the meetings themselves. I expect that. I'm familiar with orders of conditions. I work a lot with the other, in wetlands, with other towns, and so I'm very familiar with regulations and setbacks, and I understand all that. Looks great. Already. Thank you. Plus, Mr. Levine, he is an escalator, so he can handle that. Happy to hear the knowledge. So, I'm a one-man band. I don't own a company with 10 employees. It's just me. So, it's, I, from the bidding to the shoveling, I do it all. So, wow. I, I, I'm actually, I'm kind of impressed that somebody wants to serve and is willing to serve three boards currently. I do, I, I, I am a, the board's liaison to the board of health, the board of health, the board of public works, and they tend to meet once a month. Once in a while, they have something else, and they're pretty quick. They're a couple-hour meetings. Yeah. And they're all doing 100%. Yeah. Once remote came, that was it. They don't use their conference room. Well, we could use it. So, I mean, I was surprised when they told me that it was 100% remote, so. It is 100%, but once in a while, they have a forum or something, and we don't come in person, and that's it. But, uh, I do, I don't know how often the board of health meets, but I think they're about once a month as well. So, but I do think will be interesting in terms of, very impressed. I mean, I mean, we're all saying it's a heavy lift, but let me look at how often we meet. So, you know, so anyways, we appreciate that. Well, the board of health, um, I'm on with a bunch of doctors, and I'm the only one that's not. So, I, I kind of, I was recruited to sort of join, um, Julia wanted someone that couldn't read the plans and, you know, understood septic systems, because we do a lot of septic variances, and that's, we do more voting on that than a lot of other things. So, um, I think it was important to her to have somebody that could help everyone. So. Good choice as well. All right. I think, um, unless anybody else has any questions, how about if we have a motion, please? I believe that, uh, Joan Thorby appointed to an opening of the Conservation Commission with a term expiring June 30th, 2029. Second. Thank you. Is there any further discussion? Otherwise, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Carries 5-0. Um, Mr. Levine's going to give me the speech. You probably know I'm going to vote on the article, but guess what? We're going to give you the speech anyway. All right. Go ahead. So, in order to become an official voting member, you need to be sworn in by the town clerk. Just wait until you receive a letter from the town manager's office. Bring that letter over to the town clerk. Uh, she will give you some information about conflict of interest law training and administer the official oath, and then you can become an official voting member. Thank you, sir. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for coming in person. So, I think it's better. So, I mean, I'm disappointed when they said that the public works was wrong.
Thank you. Thank you. All right. Um, you know what? I'm just really concerned about what happened to Mr. Voss because he was here. I think I just saw him. I think I just saw him. You saw him on there? I could. Yeah, I can. Okay. Now. Good. Yeah, there he is. All right. Would you like to join us, sir? You're Mr. Murrock, right? Yes. Yes. Would you join us, please? Maynames up, um, no, that's it. Maynames up, um, no, that's it. Maynames up, um, no, that's it. Ask Maynames. Ms. Libdy, how do you pronounce your first name? Mariam. Pleasure. Thank you. Welcome. Um, and Mr. Voss, where is he?
We lost him? No, I should be here. It says Kenneth, that might be him. Yeah, he's on mute. He's going to turn his video and audio on.
I don't see his face though. There we go.
Thank you for joining us, Mr. Voss, again.
Thought we had lost you, so we waited for you to to come in. So, um, why didn't there, there were four candidates, I think, who had expressed interest in joining the HRDEI committee. We have two online and then we have one in front of us. Kyle Davids. I'm sorry? Kyle Davids. Yeah, I think that's a student. Is that a student? Kyle's a student. So perhaps they'll pop up yet. If you see Mr. Mr. Kyle Davids, is it Davidson? Yes, Kyle Davids. Davids, let me see him, have everything on there. So anyway, we have four spots, four candidates and we have one voting position on the HRDEI. And then we have, um, three non-voting positions open. So I think we'll do is we'll interview all the candidates together. So everyone will have a chance to, um, give a two-minute or two-second whatever speech that you'd like to talk, tell us about yourself a little bit. And then we'll have some questions from the board. And then we'll, it's very informal here, as you can say, what we did from the last candidate. So, Ms. Libby, would you like to start first and talk to us about your interest? Because I know you already are serving on the board. Yeah, sure. Um, so I, uh, started serving on the board as an associate member in 6-16-2025. Uh, and I'm applying to, uh, transition to a voting member. Um, I mean, so far, you know, being on the board helped me understand the dynamics in town more, uh, make more connections, understand community partners. And I feel like, you know, I want to take that next step to be more on the proactive side.
Thank you. Um, should I just do this statement for you? Yeah, yeah. Um, Mr. Bross, would you like to tell us if you're interested in, um, participating or joining the HRDEI, maybe please? Ah, here we go. Mr. Mr. Davidson? Pull up a chair.
What did you have here? Thank you. Sorry, I'm waiting for that. I think you're muted. No, I'm not muted. I think his mic is probably down from right. Why is his mic? Can you get him? His mic is not muted. I think it's on his, uh, his end. Let us come, let us computer. Get him. All right. Um, let's get in there by phone. What? Oh, my goodness. Mr. Bross, we can't hear you. Can you call my cell phone and we'll get you in on, uh, um, through my cell phone? Okay, let me give you the number when you're ready. It's going out over the airwaves. Yeah. Sure. He could, he could, you can email him if he wants. Oh. Yes. Email him a number, Bob. Yeah. We can do that. We're going to email you my number, okay? So. I think we got to find this. We need to find his email. Email me. What was your name? Or if he wants to email the town manager. I know. He sent an email, which is in the packet. I don't know if that's alive. No, I clicked on it. All right. You can email the town, town manager at wayland.ma.us and I'll get right back to him. It's complex. It is complex. Okay. Mr. Murdoch, would you like to share with your interest in the committee with us, please? Yes. Thank you very much. Uh, yes. I would like to reply to a member of the HRDIC. I believe I have a lot to offer, um, personal background, professional background. I've been, uh, resident of Wayland since 2005 and I believe it's a great opportunity for me to give back to the town and to, um, help support the initiatives to make the town more open, more inclusive, um, and to make it a more waffling place for everyone. Thank you. And you want to speak kind of? Yes. Um. We're just sharing why we would like to participate on the, um, HRDIC. Obviously you're, you're applying for one of the student positions. Yes. Um, as a high schooler, um, I think I believe there's two student positions. Um, and I'd like to, uh, be one of them because I feel like I have lived in this town my whole life. I want to, you know, uh, at least, you know, be there on, you know, help with this town or at least, you know, be present while other people are. Um, and, uh, I, um, I'm interested in joining this committee, um, because I think this town should be like more connected and, uh, this is a good way to do that. Thank you. Thank you. All right. What does anyone, um, is Mr. Bus up yet? No. Okay. Sorry. Sorry. Uh, do you. All right. So anybody, why don't we throw some questions for the three candidates that have spoken, um, already? And then when Mr. Bus comes, able to get on, we'll connect him up as well. So. Should I start? Yes, I would. Thank you. Are there any examples of some things you might do if elected was impressed by your comment about an activity and how long you've lived in town and things you'd like to do? Yes. Uh, I believe the town, uh, and it's a suburban environment. It creates a situation where people are spread out. Yeah. So I think having opportunities, people can come together, uh, informally, socially, be able to exchange views, uh, talk about their concerns and find, uh, a friendly area that they can talk to. I think that we can create various ways that we can do that, whether it's, uh, like coffee get togethers. I think we can have, uh, you know, not summertime. I think it's a great opportunity for people to be outside or can get together as well. I know there are certain activities already in plan where we have cultural activities, uh, that promote awareness, um, understanding of other cultures. And with my background from Latin America, I believe that I can contribute to that as well and become part of the organizers, part of the people are, uh, running the events. I think that I can serve many capacities to support initiatives. Likewise. Could you elaborate? Do you have an example or two or something you'd like for, um, initiative or something? Well, I feel like last, um, like all town event I can think of is, um, that one for the 250th newbie, uh, uh, uh, town center. And I think that was like a perfect thing. Cause it, it brought, you know, everyone in the town, all of my friends were there, there. And like the people who sell things or, you know, anyone with a hobby to, um, can show it in the town. And it really is, you know, you see the, the Wayland post, you see all these different aspects of town in the same place. And I feel like it, it shouldn't only be done for the 250th of the country. I think that could be done every year. Um, for just for, you know, a town. Thank you. Miss Lindy. Can you hear me? Yes, I can. Great. I was impressed by your comment and you had to be general. Could you give an example or two of initiatives you have in mind for why you'd like to become a voting member? Your Honor. Yeah, sure. Um, so one of the initiatives that we were, uh, floating, the ideas floating around is, uh, maybe creating some kind of a chain of support groups for people in town, uh, to try to bring them together on things they have in common or concerns or concerns or challenges. So I'm trying to come at this in a, in a different way. Uh, you know, uh, two birds, one stone, uh, it will serve people's needs at the same time. It will bring people from different backgrounds together. Um, other, I think I'm not only thinking initiative wise, I'm trying to think of this board as, uh, a board that, I guess, um, sees what's going on in the community and gives recommendations to other groups in town because we have this diverse group of people sitting intentionally together to discuss, uh, this specific need. Um, so this is how I'm, I'm looking generally at it. And the initiatives come up when, you know, we connect with our, with other community partners, when, when, you know, people who have some ideas or capacities or skills, uh, stand up and, and, and, and present what they have and ask for the support and connection. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Bruss, can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? Oops. Yeah, we can hear you, Mr. Bruss. Go ahead. Would you like to give us a, just a couple, um, of the interest? Sure. Yes. Because I mentioned when I applied for the Council of Aging Board, I'm at a stage in my life where I'm retired. My focus is being altruistic and I'm looking to utilize the professional skills I've developed. Uh, I agree with everything I've heard. Um, I'm going to raise one different perspective though. Uh, I've been about for 20 years in interfaith work. I was one of the founding members of an organization in Lexington called Lexington United Against Anti-Semitism. And I'm aware of the incidents here. Uh, and the fact is, is that although Jews represent 2% of the US population, nearly 70% of all hate crimes reported in the United States are targeted at Jews. And the statistics are only increasing. I think the challenge is that frequently we get engaged in a either us versus them approach or as what's happened in Wayland and what happened in Lexington is there'll be an anti-Semitic incident. The issue of the misappropriation of the Hindu religious symbol of a swastika gets brought up. There's focus there. there, but then the focus on the anti-Semitic hate crime gets dropped. And what I hope to achieve is that we deal with empathetically and sensitively both dynamics, being concerned about both communities. And as I said, Wayland has been pretty minor, but yet there have been two incidents in the past few years statistically across the United States, even in Massachusetts. Massachusetts. In Massachusetts last year, over 85% of all religiously motivated hate crimes targeted Jews. Last year, there was an increase of 24%. So my goal is to be inclusive. My goal is to not be us versus them. But on the other hand, I want to be a voice to proactively be aware of what the issues are. Now, I don't know if the human rights committee is the right place to be doing this or not. Because I know in Lexington, you know, we had our, we formed an organization that was, you know, that was very largely an interfaith piece. They had collaboration of all of the local, you know, clergy. But I think that certainly this is a starting place because I want to ensure that we're dealing proactively to bring this on the table. But again, that isn't because I'm not concerned about everything else with regards to inclusiveness and welcoming, you know, everyone feeling comfortable and belonging. But I bring a unique perspective to proactively deal with a dangerous emerging trend. Thank you, sir. All right. So now everybody has given us a brief overview. So, and Chris has already asked a question. Don't you have any questions? Yes. Thank you. First, I'd like to observe that it's wonderful that we have three people seeking one available position on the committee. So I think it speaks to the effectiveness of the committee. I guess my only question for each of the candidates for the voting position is would you be willing to serve in a non-voting capacity given that we have only one voting position presently available? I know. Yes. Thank you. I know. All right. Thank you. Mr. Bross or Ms. Lipty, what do you think? Yes, sure. The important thing is to contribute to the conversations and be at the table. Mr. Bross, if there's only one voting position and there are three non-voting, is a non-voting position also acceptable? Yeah, it would be. Thank you. As I said, my interest in the voting position is because I want to ensure that I can have maximum impact. But if it's a non-voting position, that's an alternative as well. Okay. Thank you. Also, thank you. Mr. Levine. To ask a question, maybe demanding a little bit more of a thoughtful answer that I'm curious about is we certainly have had our share of hate incidents in Wayland, both race-related hate and religious-related hate, just in recent times going back within the last three years. How do all of you believe that this committee can somehow be proactive in the face of some of these hate incidents going forward? We're going to start. Yeah, we're starting. Ms. Liberty? Yeah, sure. I mean, of course, if specific initiatives should be discussed with the group. But one of my favorite initiatives that the body took while I was serving is the conversations for change that happened in the library. I feel like more things like that, that bring people together for authentic conversations is much needed in this town, especially that, unfortunately, like even structurally, we don't have a lot of public places that bring Waylanders together. Hopefully that changes slowly with the Wayland town center. But that is, that is a big, I feel like that's a big piece of, it's a big obstacle that we have that people don't have spaces to come together. Everyone tends to go outside Wayland to hang out in a coffee shop or whatever. We don't have those here. You know, there's the new Duncan where all the kids are, but we do need more spaces where people can go and casually meet others. So just having more initiatives like that, I feel like. And then, you know, reflecting on my time with the board, I hope that this body has, has like a more ripple effect to its voice, I guess. I hope it's consulted more, that other partners collaborate with it more, that other town bodies consult with it and collaborate with it as well. There's much potential in that group. There's so much, you know, learning going on even while people are talking. So definitely I hope to see it take a more proactive role and, and be valued more in town. Thank you. Mr. Brown? I guess I agree. Unfortunately, I had some health issues, so I couldn't be as actively involved in the conversation series as I wanted to be. But I think that was a valuable first step. And I support continuing that. I'm also interested in getting a clearer understanding of procedures we have in place. So I've been following some of the developments that the public school system has developed. I'm looking into things like the Liberty Team. I've shared with Karen some programs that are being developed in other communities. So I think a starting point is, rather than being reactive to try and identify ahead of time, how do we deal across the community when incidents occurred? And again, in Lexington, we had a number of programs with the schools, with the library, to proactively deal with things. Thank you. And I think we can continue in that regard. Thank you. And once again, not to confuse government and religion. I'm new here, but I'm reaching out to learn more about the work that Whale and clergy are doing interdenominationally to be doing this type of effort. Thank you. Because we need to be building alliances, not everybody advocating their own cause. Appreciate that. Dr. Murda? Yes. So I believe that more social activities will help a great deal. Having people mingle with each other, get to know each other and interact socially. I believe that continuing the work that has already happened with the Conversations for Change and other activities like those that are more organized and public settings where people can learn techniques on how to address different scenarios and how to resolve them constructively. And then the third will be to work with the youth throughout the school system. I believe that all of those will be very effective. Mr. Dave? I feel like just huge town events to give us one community. It's pretty hard to hate someone when you're intertwined like that. I feel like that's necessary because my school alone has had some pretty bad incidents with Whale High School having the past three-ish years two racist incidents and one anti-Semitic. And I feel like if we bring our town together doing things like the 250th, doing things like there was a iftar thing during Ramadan that was a town event with the Whale High School MSA and who saw us. And that educates people. And things like that, even if an event hasn't happened, it's best to, you know, make everyone knowledgeable about like everyone else's lives. And with, you know, with 13,000 people in the town, there's got to be, you know, a lot of no one's the same. A lot of different people and a lot of different beliefs and stories and identities. Appreciate it. That's it. That's it. That's it. Just a question. Mr. Davidson, when do you graduate from high school? Do you anticipate you'll be in the area or you move out of town for school or something else after you graduate? I graduate next year, 2027. Okay. Um, I want to be in a college in New England, preferably, you know, this area has a lot of colleges to offer. So I could definitely do virtual meetings. Um, but, um, I don't know if I'd be able to show up to them in person as I am now. The reason I ask is if a member tonight chooses to move to have you a non-voting member being a student, would that be a term in 2027, 2028, or 2029? So maybe 2027 would be appropriate? Yes. Okay. Thank you. I thank everyone for showing interest. It's terrific for us. We filled with a lot of positions tonight. We have a lot of volunteers in town. They all bring a lot of wonderful expertise and talented skills, you know, which makes our town better and more exciting and why everybody wants to come live here. So having said that, um, do we have a motion? Yeah, I'll, I'll start and move that we, this board appoint Herman Murdoch as the voting member for term. Excuse me. I think, um, this, uh, Libby's already on the committee's and she, there's a, there's a voting member. Oh, yeah. So we, I don't know. I should have said that. Sean did. We've got it backwards. All right. We're tied. We're tied. We're tied. We're tied. We're tied. We've appointed the voting member of the HRDIC for term ending June 30th, 2028. Second. Okay. Any further discussion? All those in favor say aye. All right. Okay. That's okay. I move then that, um, applicants, Mr. Murdoch and Mr. Pross, uh, be. So I think Kyle was this one too. That one. I don't know. I'll let's draw that motion and move that Mr. Davidson be appointed as a non-voting member of the HRDIC for term ending June 30th, 2027. Second. Thank you. Any further discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Motion passes 5-0. All right. I move that, um, Mr. Bruss be appointed as a member of the HRDIC for term ending June 30th, 2029. Second. Any further discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. That's 5-0. I move that, um, Mr. Bruss be appointed as a member of the HRDIC for term ending June 30th, 2027. Non-voting member. June 30th, 2027. Thank you. Any further discussion? I had a question. Yes. Is it appropriate for Mr. Bruss to, um, be considered in the context of the civil discourse and that he brought up himself that he may not be well-placed in this committee? Right. I'm just trying to be brief, um, or actually moving forward a bit. Yeah. I, I think it's a great question, but I'll say that his perspective is a healthy perspective. That was awesome. Yeah. All right. So. Do you need to take the vote? Yeah. I am getting confused, but there you go. I'm unraveling my head. Okay. If there's no further discussion on this, uh, motion, then I'm all in favor of pointing Mr. Bruss for a non-voting position ending June 30th and 2027 say aye. Aye. That was five zero. I just want to make sure that we also said Mr. Murdoch. Dr. Murdoch is also non-voting. We said that very good. Yeah. Okay. No, we'll fix it. All right. See you on. Do non-voting members still get sworn in, but they just can't take the vote? Do the associate members go to the clerk's office? Ms. Kelsey. Could you answer that question for us, please? We need your help there. I'm sorry. Could you repeat the question again? If you're a non-voting associate member of a board or committee, do you, are you still subject to the same requirements where you get the letter and you go in to get sworn in and you take conflict of interest? Yep. Okay. Yep. It's the same process. So, for all four of you, congratulations. Just wait. You should receive a letter shortly from the town manager's office with certain information. That is your official letter that you would take here to the town clerk's office and they will officially swear you in. They'll also give you some information regarding conflict of interest law training, which we're all required to complete every two years, and then you'll be at bona fide numbers. Thank you for your service. I also want to say this because she did include our information. Congratulations to Miss Liberty on her citizenship. Yeah. Congratulations. Very, very honored to have you join us. Thank you. Thank you, everyone. Thank you. Thank you. Good night, Mr. Press. Thank you. Thank you. So, the next item we have is number nine. Somebody's checking to make sure I don't skip any of my numbers here. This is just to reappoint folks. Based on the question we had last meeting, I also had Abby include in the packet a list of the open vacancies for the things. It's a little bit funny because maybe the ones we've ordered in last week may not have all been updated, but it gives you a sense of how many positions we still have to fill. And I thought that was part of the question from last week. So, I do want to say on this one on the Energy and Climate Committee, their church says that they may have associate members who have special expertise and they're assigned for a special project. So, Mr. Dale is going to be an associate member who's going to provide support for the heat pump and household clean energy captions. And the request is to have him appointed through December of 27. I spoke with Ellen this morning to get that clarified so we could make the appointment. Happy to move that this board approve. Following three people, Carol Gleick, Council on Aging Board, termending June 30th, 2029. Paul Dale, associate member of the Energy and Climate Committee for termending June 30th, 2029. It's going to be December 20, I just think it's 18 and such. December 31, 27, I think it is. Okay. Yeah. December 31, 2027. And finally, Joel Rosenhaus to the Senior Tax Relief Committee for termending June 30th, 2029. Second. Okay. Any further discussion? Okay. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye.
Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. equity inclusion right see that just went from tom he picked up personnel board and board of health and on bill um i highlighted this k-12 facilities planning because he had said it was sort of ending but i left the band just to see if you still needed it wanted it there and then we added in it's not showing uh it should be showing here it's not um eight handles out pip should be there and then finally it should be historic district park that we talked about the other day missing the cba too missing cba who has cba me okay so what other errors do i have bonus at the moment cba because um cba okay i think under jcc regionalization that's really in the uh town manager's portfolio at this moment yeah you want to leave it there or not oh i think uh you know the board is active in that and so as a question just kind of execution that michael is handling so i don't know that that needs to be listed any longer want to take that one off yeah so i'm just trying to make sure and then on yours over here tom i also had put litigation here besides a special counsel because you tend to be our litigation yeah so that's highlighted so those were the changes that i made into them a special counsel just is a smoo you and uh seo
and um all right uh mr whitney do you have any interest in possibly switching one library trustees to me and personal work to you uh if you would like to do that that's fine i i am comfortable with with as it stands i am comfortable with it as it stands but if you would like to uh no i'm good i'm good no i can move anything and i'd like to propose that on the um cpc committee that the dual liaison between the chair and um mr whitney given his background and those i'm sorry i'm sorry not cpc the um the um cips which is the capital improvement planning committee so cipc that that be a dual liaison given mr whitney's uh um background and the uh stage of this committee is in right now i think you know what two members were working on that term if you agree i would welcome that opportunity so i just want to say one thing on all of this is um that when you look at these we usually try to have an even number right and um actually under mine i highlighted surface water quality this was my last edit that i was going to mention that we have had conversations and i've had them with them that we as a board at some point need to talk about this possibly does this really belong under us so does it belong maybe under conservation commission i think they feel the same they go to them to get permits and and and that kind of stuff so i've highlighted that you know i've made that so it won't stay highlighted but we haven't made a decision and we need to do that so that's one thing by the way you say and i have one two i'll have four that's it did you clarify your point madam chair you're saying that that you're thinking is that the board shouldn't have a liaison position with surface water no i'll keep it but i'm thinking that sometime during the year we'll probably do and we may we may have promises we may decide that it makes no sense over there okay just you know we've had this conversation that we might make some edits on some of the words and what have you so i just wanted to point that out so what's going to happen is we're you know one two three four five six seven i think chris has seven or eight you doug has seven i think you have a bill has eight and i have one two three i will have four so next year we'll have to rearrange all these again because you really want to have an even worth i will say this generally speak i'm sorry it's a form of a sec but it'll be good so i think that we normally um normally the chair doesn't have as many but they should have a a few of them but this and it's it'll be a problem all right so are we good with this so i'm going to add in the cba right i'm going to fix the spelling here and take the jcc off do you want to leave the k-12 facilities planning because i think you felt that was kind of finished done yeah i i have not heard further uh suspect the school committee is sort of with the superintendent working on this uh there's been no communication to the done all right yeah we're done okay so you're giving us off there in the capitol so then do you think we do we want to see this again and vote the next time or do we want to just i don't think we need to vote about this request that it be it be revised and put it on the inspector yeah enough to put it on the lawn no we voted these i think
yeah happy to vote then the uh as as amended this evening the 2027 select four liaison assignments second okay any further discussion all right i gotta find my space all those in favor say aye all right great i think that brings us up if i didn't miss any other topics never let them just tell me who's important so mr mccall on the floor is yours yeah we're now being 12.
so i'm just going the order that's on there just a little bit of a recap just so you're aware um as you know this evening you had a bunch of folks that wanted to serve the town in various capacities and last thursday night mr levine was present when uh abigail warren my executive assistant helped put together and host a volunteer appreciation recognition event uh they they played volunteer bingo and there were some refreshments and everybody got to meet and greet and we we were able to thank folks but there was about 25 people i would say um and it was i think nice that we take the time to recognize the people that come out because mr levine and i both said you know the town doesn't function without volunteers and they're getting harder and harder to come by especially qualified individuals so i thank abby for working on that i know kelsey uh had initially looked into that and asked abby to help out so uh i thank my staff for doing that um i attended a couple of board meetings as you know as part of my role as town manager um i'm working with the west suburban health group we're looking we did an rfp for our benefits manager we have companies that interface with our health insurance companies that help us with our claims management etc and so we're going through the process just like this board goes through his due diligence um we spent the day last week interviewing candidly to reviewing proposals um similarly i had a meeting with our regional housing surface services officer all the area town managers and planners went to that meeting mr hummel was there as well they will be coming in to see us i think on june 29th at our meeting i think july 20th to uh and an upcoming meeting they will be coming to talk about uh the ima that we have with them and the other communities they help us maintain our subsidized housing inventory and deal with other housing related issues so there's a couple of quick uh housekeeping items this friday the town will be closed uh town hall will be closed in observance of june 10th that is friday june 19th and because it's a half day here for a lot of our collective bargaining agreements and things we will have to shut the town hall the day before at 12 30 because people get an eight hour holiday so it's going to carry over so in observance of june 19th june teen otherwise known as june teens will be closing on thursday at 12 30 not opening again until 8 a.m on monday again this summer we will be doing town office summer hours with the town building and public works that'll begin the week of june 22nd next monday um the first monday will be excuse me the first friday off will be june 26th and we will resume the five-day schedule on august 31st right before everybody goes back to school the departments that will maintain regularly scheduled work hours will be the council on aging recreation public safety and the library our offices here from june 22nd through august 28th will be eight to seven here on mondays and then tuesday wednesday and thursday will be eight to 5 30. also we're trying to squeeze in town manager office hours this month before our next meeting in our next meeting on the 29th is at 6 p.m so we're going to start town manager or office hours here at 4 p.m on the 28th and that's all the items on my list but sure thank you i do want to just look by that i have put um rhso on the 20th of july okay that's fine okay so um what's the concerns who would like to start with mr levine why don't you start i have a concern that i unfortunately need to outline and that is uh regarding public comment uh made by miss carter uh two meetings ago on the 1st of june um she read into the record um and i quote that i had spoken at the second night of annual town meeting and made a attack on her character personally and said that quote i brought the articles out of some type of vengeance about the bridge project is what i spoke about her so confident that i did not say that i did go back and watch my remarks um for both articles 26 and 28 at the may 5th town meeting and of course i hewed entirely to my remarks in which i focused solely on the articles themselves so it was unfortunate that um she felt the need to make that comment but i find it necessary to correct the record um and she has every right to make that comment but i just want to make sure in the future things are factual
i think what's next look nothing for me nothing for you okay you wonder i thought it was a big list
what mine was to serve the same language as the face
well mine's not i got two minutes right first of all i want to say that um um i was equally upset about the comment that was made last time and had made some thoughts to make a comment today is that in this part of the process this is a democratic process town meeting is where we all get to prepare and discuss respectfully the business that's before the town for the coming year and every single article has a pro mic and a con mic and every single article has a proponent and is allowed to have someone who is an opponent to the article and the moderator that's why we have the moderator she keeps us all at the right spots and i don't believe there's anything in the code that requires anyone to advise anyone else if they are taking a pro position a con position or an opposition position and um i just would like to also have that on the record so i think that makes sense and i'm disappointed and sorry that that happened to you because you worked i know firsthand how hard i don't know how many hours you put in this i was right there with you so um okay i did want to follow up real quick on a couple little things one is that we are still going to be meeting in person right through the uh the seventh when we have the goal setting but then on the 20th and the two meetings in august we will be fully remote just so everybody knows that and if we have to have any i shouldn't say this but if we have to have any one-offs real quick on like a morning or something for an hour that'll be remote as well um i do want to say though this is we have a concern that we're trying to resolve or initially like a smooth out is this maybe having the ability to have electronic signatures the dot you sign is a subscription model and unless it's more heavily utilized than the one or two times that we would use it in the course of the year is probably not economically sensible but we are looking into something else this system you're not supposed to happen on this but go ahead just so you know i spoke to mr lombardi who's our it director and he said we have a subscription to adobe sign which is very similar yeah okay and he said i asked him if he would train my office staff so that they could work on getting documents from here he said he would schedule that so that's that um jaylen has actually watched the tape and said oh do you want a banner she's so efficient and she's looking into some prices for the banner that we talked about last week i do want to run through a couple items that we're going to be talking about some of the other meetings these are really really fun i'm going to be knowing a couple things around um but mr gould is coming in to speak to us he has some more information about the 195 uh remediation projects so we're rearranging the schedule to you know get him in on the next meeting and there will be a public meeting it's going to be on the thursday i send those dates to you bill i don't know if you've worked it out when it is but it's july 30th july 30th yes it is so maybe we could publish that or yeah he just said i shared it with you leave this out okay um and then also um at long last we are actually going to renew um some rfps i guess whatever from some legal terms to to see if we want to what we would like to do because that is our responsibility so that is next time as well i wanted to just mention there's a bunch of other stuff but those were a couple of things i think we're pulling around you know tom well that's huge thank you that's enormous yes thank you happy to move on for german for this meeting at uh 9 21 second thank you second second thank you okay all those about i said all right thank you thank you very much see you too